Besides fighting for flag and country, the Philippine National Esports Team — known as Sibol Pilipinas — will be more inspired come the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Like, a million times more inspired.
Monday morning, Smart Communications Inc. announced that for every gold medal that the national team wins in the biennial meet, a million-peso reward will await them.
“This is a huge milestone for Esports, and it is our greatest honor to support the best Filipino gamers as they prove that we have the talent, skill, and drive to dominate this sport,” said SMART president Al Panlilio.
For team events — namely DOTA 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Age of Valor — a gold medal will result in a P2,000,000 payday. On the other hand, the Filipino gold medalists who can take the Tekken 7, Hearthstone, and StarCraft events will earn P1,000,000.
Twenty-seven players make up the national team.
Mc Nicholson ‘Mc’ Villanueva, John Anthony ‘Natsumi’ Vargas, Jun ‘Bok’ Kanehara, Marvin Salvador ‘Boomy’ Rushton, Bryle Jacob ‘CML’ Alvizo, Van Jerico ‘Van’ Manalaysay and James Erice ‘Erice’ Guerra compose the DOTA 2 team.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Jiane ‘Kenji’ Villa, Karl Gabriel ‘KarlTzy’ Nepomuceno, Carlito ‘Ribo’ Ribo, Jeniel ‘Haze’ Bata-anon, Angelo Kyle ‘Pheww’ Arcangel, Allan Sancio ‘Lusty’ Castromayor, and Jason Rafael ‘Jay’ Torculas comprise the Mobile Legends squad.
Kevin Kio ‘Gambit’ Dizon, Jeremiah ‘1717’ Camarillo, Jevan Lorenzo ‘Bents’ Delos Santos, Lawrence Anthony ‘Rubixx’ Gatmaitan, Miguel Klarenz ‘Miggie’ Banaag, Bradie Ryan ‘Yats’ Velasquez, and Kyle Jepherson ‘Vindiicated’ Padlan, on the other hand, will play Arena of Valor.
For the individual video games, Justin ‘NuksPH’ Santos and Caviar ‘Enderr’ Acampado (Starcraft); Dustin ‘WaningMoon’ Mangulabnan and Jacinta ‘Jia’ Dee (Hearthstone); and Andreij Hosea ‘Doujin’ Albar and Alexandre Gabrielle ‘AK’ Laverez (Tekken 7) complete the team.
The battle cry for the keyboard warriors for the regional meet is ‘Lakad Matatag’. And with Smart on their side, they will never walk alone.
“We are very happy that Smart is joining us in Cignal with Sibol,” expressed TV5 president Jane Basas.
“With the combined efforts of Smart and the Get Gold! program, we believe that Sibol now has taken firm root and will be able to face all challenges that come their way on their path to gold!”
