Philippine esports body underscores importance of grassroots development
MANILA, Philippines — In the coming 33rd Southeast Asian Games happening in Thailand this December, the country's national esports team, Sibol, is slated to compete in two of the four esports events. Given the Philippines’ inclination on esports, many were surprised that the country is not sending players to all four events.
As Sibol General Manager Leo “Jab” Escutin explains it, the team's primary goal is to send the best Filipino players for any esports event, not just to field a team.
"The way we select games that we would participate in national events is that we have to make sure that we have a presence first in the grassroots. That's why our biggest opportunity right now is to grow the grassroots for most of the popular teams in the Philippines. As an investment in the games, we don't want to send athletes that are subpar or are not really a good representation of the talent of the Filipinos,” Escutin said at the press conference announcing the Philippine Esports Organization (PESO)'s partnership with Arena Social, which plants to invest in an esports training facility as well as boost PESO's previous initiative—the National Grassroots Program (NGP).
As mentioned, Sibol is only sending teams for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Arena of Valor events and not for the Football title, EA Sports FC Online and shooting game Free Fire.
With preparations for the 2026 Asian Games under way, Sibol will apply the same consideration for the 11 esports title up for medal contention.
"In terms of, let's say, all out [events] in the Asian Games, we want to make sure that the athletes that we send are a good representation of the Filipino talent when it comes to these [titles]. So as good of an opportunity with [all] the support that we're getting from ArenaSocial and our other partners, we want to make sure that we represent that support properly when we go to international events. That's why we have to choose sporting events that we can join that would be a good representation of the talent of the Filipinos, not just because we have the funding to join them. That's why we have the national grassroots programs where we can develop new talents on all of the games that we can eventually support in the future,” added Escutin.
For ArenaSocial's Managing Director, Erick Su, their platform could help in identifying grassroots talents and boost Sibol’s talent pool.
"We believe in hard engagement and if we can spread that out, then we'll have a good opportunity to identify talents for the national team. I think all the success of any sport [comes] from the grassroots. So that's very important for us to be engaged in part of the journey, to help the team. Because that's what we can do on the ground for them,” said Su.
The esports events in the 33rd SEA Games will begin on December 13.
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