Hallohallo Entertainment president Paulo Kurosawa states his exciment for this partnership, "We're very excited for this partnership and with ABS-CBN as the home for our new project, we're very positive that this will be one of our biggest milestones yet."
The MNL48 project was first announced back in March 2016 with auditions starting last December. MNL48 will continue the AKB48 concept of idols you can meet by performing daily at their own theater.
[Source: ABS-CBN News]