Philippine esports body eyes Palarong Pambansa inclusion

MANILA, Philippines – With the conclusion of its 2023 campaign, the Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) is now focused on their plans for next year.

Based on the 2024 schedule PESO presented during the press conference of the Asian Pacific Predator League that the country will be hosting in January 2024, there will only be three international conferences that the country’s national esports team, Sibol, will be participating in. These are the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in February, the World Esports Championship of the International Esports Federation in August, and the Global Esports Games in November.

Locally, PESO is once again participating in the Palarong Pambansa after esports was included as a demo sport in the 2023 iteration.

“It’s very important to enter Palarong Pambansa. From this year's demo participation, maganda yung feedback. Of course, not everyone has the actual knowledge to implement an esports program on a national scale, that’s going to take a while. We are hoping for DepEd’s help because kami as PESO, we want to continue esports in Palarong Pambansa,” said PESO Executive Director Marlon Marcel.

The current esports demo sport in Palarong Pambansa only has a mobile esports category, but Marcelo hopes that PC esports titles will also be on the horizon.

He adds, “Initially, the plan is mobile lang. If we have proper planning, resources, and if we connect to different brands that want to support us, PESO also wants to enter PC as part of the category for demo sport. Palarong Pambasa is the foundation, that’s the school level. Imagine 17 regions all over the country, ang format ng Palarong Pambansa is you have to go to your school, from your district, to interregional, and you became the region champion. You have 17 different teams that have the opportunity to show their development and capabilities. It’s really interesting on how we can implement it, logistically it’s going to be hard but we’re looking forward to expounding the program.”

Besides seeing the local esports talent as early as the grassroots level, Marcelo sees another importance with PESO becoming part of Palarong Pambansa, as it will help in the overall acceptance of esports in the country.

“Once this is integrated with the schools, we believe it will help with the acceptance of esports. At the end of the day, that’s what we want. We want the help of the private sector, the government, and the schools in recognizing the esports industry. Doon na tayo papunta with esports in Palarong Pambansa.” said Marcelo.