PTV LAUNCHES UNITY LEAGUE, GETS FINANCIAL BOOST FROM SPEAKER ROMUALDEZ

The state-run People’s Television Network (PTV) has launched the Unity League, a grassroots tournament for ESports that aims to produce potential national esports athletes under Team Sibol.

For its initial venture, Unity League will hold the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang nationwide
tournament open to all Local Government Units (LGU) willing to field their squads.
This was announced by PTV General Manager Analisa V. Puod during the press launch of the league Monday at the Midas Hotel in Pasay City.

Apart from providing the needed TV coverage along with broadcast partner Intercontinental
Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13), Puod was able to enlist the help of the House of
Representatives and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to bolster the league's logistics.

“The lifeblood of any sport is at its grassroots, and PTV is proud to be a part of the Unity
League, which will become a training pool for esports talent in the country,” shares Puod. “It’s time for us to claim our dominant place in esports the way we have in other disciplines such as boxing, billiards, track and field, martial arts, basketball, and more.”

Seemingly impressed by the Unity League’s goal, no less than House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez committed to raise the financial bonanza being offered by the tournament.

“We want to inspire all our stakeholders here, we are upping the ante, so we will be awarding to the champion two million pesos. Second place one million pesos and third place half a million pesos,” as announced by Romualdez who attended the presser as the event’s main guest.

Initially, PTV offered a total cash prize amounting to P1 million, with P500,000 going to the
league’s inaugural champions.

The speaker was accompanied by Rep. Zaldy Co, Chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee and House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco.

PTV has also tapped the Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) to handle the technical and
operations aspects of the league, ensuring top-notch nationwide tournaments.
PESO is the recognized National Sports Association (NSA) of the International Esports
Federation (IESF), which is the world governing body of Esports and is also a member of the
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

PESO Executive Director Marlon Marcelo said the Unity League will eventually stage several
more Esports game categories to provide a major avenue for young but untapped talents
around the country.

“The first season of the Unity League will feature Mobile Legends as our first game title. In the upcoming seasons, we would want to organize other esports categories such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Valorant, and Tekken.” said Marcelo.

Esports has been a medal event in the Southeast Asian Games since 2019 and made its Asian Games debut during the 2022 Hangzhou Games in China.

The National Esports Team, also known as Team Sibol, has won seven gold medals in the last three SEA Games. It won three Gold Medals upon its debut in the 2019 SEA Games, and two each in the 2021 and 2023 SEA Games.

On the professional level, the AP.Bren team from the Philippines has won the recently
concluded MLBB M5 World Championship. Meantime, the Unity League will conduct regional qualifiers namely in North Luzon, South Luzon, National Capital Region, Visayas and Mindanao and will be open to any Filipino 18 years old and above.

Registration starts February 13 in NCR, February 24 in North Luzon, March 16 in South Luzon, March 23 in Visayas and March 27 in Mindanao, details of which will be posted via the league’s official social media pages.

Citi Philippines Supports the Philippine Paralympic Committee and Filipino Para-athletes in LAKAD PARA ATLETA

The spirit of diversity and inclusion brings together Citi Philippines and the Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) for the inaugural “LAKAD PARA ATLETA”, a walk to support the country’s Paralympic movement, held at the University of the Philippines College of Science Oval at UP Diliman, Quezon City.

This event aims to raise awareness and funds to benefit the country’s Para athletes, especially as they prepare to compete in the upcoming 10th ASEAN Para Games, to be held at the New Clark City Sports Complex in January 2020.  Citi formalized a partnership with the Philippine Paralympic Committee in December of last year, as part of a global agreement between Citi and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The international agreement supports 18 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Through the partnership, Citi will help generate excitement and national pride around the extraordinary accomplishments of the country’s para-athletes. In the Philippines, Citi is proudly sponsoring two of the country’s top Para athletes: Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta (power lifting) and Jerrold Mangliwan (wheelchair racing.)

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is also supporting the PPC by holding a series of sports activities for an “Olympic Day” together with the country’s top athletes from the Philippine Olympians Association (POA).

PPC President Michael Barredo and Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed walked together during the last leg of an Olympic torch relay, which marked the opening of the Lakad Para Atleta walk. In a show of unity, both Para athletes from the PPC and athletes from the POA participated in both the relay and the walk together. More than 2,000 participants joined the walk, including over 800 employees from Citi Philippines.

“Citi Philippines is excited about the opportunity to partner with the PPC and to jointly work on the common goal of greater inclusion in sports. We are thrilled to sponsor the inaugural ‘Lakad Para Atleta’. Our 800 Citi volunteers present today feel honored to be participating side-by-side with the nation’s incredible para-athletes and their supporters,” declared Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed.
“We are overwhelmed by the support of our partners, especially Citi Philippines. ‘Lakad Para Atleta’ and our partnership with Citi will help increase awareness of Para sports in the country as we prepare for the upcoming ASEAN Para Games in January 2020, as well as the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics later on the same year. We hope to make our fellow Filipinos proud of our achievements both in the sporting arena as well as in our quest to promote equality for all,” said Philippine Paralympic Committee President Michael Barredo.

“LAKAD PARA ATLETA” is co-sponsored by the Philippine Paralympic Committee and Citi Philippines with support of the University of the Philippines, the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Olympians Association and other organizations.

The event is also the culminating activity of Citi’s annual Global Community Day tradition, which gives employees the opportunity to make a positive impact in their communities through volunteerism. In May and June 2019, over 7,000 Citi Philippines employees participated in 23 volunteer activities to help communities in need and raise awareness of important issues, such as inclusion and equality.

About Citi

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About IPC

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. It co-ordinates the organization of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for 10 sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC’s vision is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.

PH kicks off 10th ASEAN Para Games

The Philippine Paralympic Committee officially kicked off the 10th ASEAN Para Games (APG) on Friday, January 18, 2019  -- exactly a year before the event takes place on January 2020 -- at the Novotel Manila in Quezon City.

Earlier in the day, international representatives of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) made an ocular inspection of the official event venues in Clark, Subic and Manila. The New Clark City Sports Complex is now under construction in Capas, Tarlac where a 20,000-seat stadium will rise, among other international standard competition venues. The sports complex will serve as the Athletes Village for both the Southeast Asian Games in December 2019 and the APG in January 2020.

The ASEAN Para Games 2020 begins on January 18, 2020 a few weeks after the completion of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. APG 2020 will be concluded on January 25, 2020.

For the second time since the ASEAN Para Games was established, the Philippines will be hosting the biannual multisport event for differently-abled athletes from the 11 member countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Timor Leste and the Philippines.

An estimated 2,000 differently-abled athletes from different countries in Southeast Asia are expected to fly in for the 10th APG and compete in 14 sports : Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Chess, Cycling, Volleysitting, Wheelchair-Basketball, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Swimming, Tenpin Bowling, and Table Tennis. Participants in the APG include athletes with physical, vision and intellectual disabilities.

Michael Barredo, PPC President said “The Philippines is grateful for the opportunity to host the 10th APG, an event that will give all differently abled athletes in the region a platform to override their limitations and achieve the seemingly impossible. At the same time it will inspire our local para athletes to exceed their recent achievements and show that they can aspire for greater glory and give pride to our country.”

The ASEAN Para Games is under the regulation of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Asian Paralympic Committee lend technical and classification assistance when needed.

57 Athletes to Compete in Asian Para Games in Indonesia

Fifty-seven Filipino para athletes journey to Jakarta, Indonesia on Monday, October 1 to slug it out in the 3^rd Asian Para Games that will take place from October 6 to 13, 2018 in 19 locations around Jakarta.

Filipino para athletes will compete in 10 of 18 sports slated in the Para Games, namely archery, athletics, badminton, chess, cycling, judo, powerlifting, table tennis, swimming and tenpin bowling.

Leading the Philippine contingent are bemedalled para athletes Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta of powerlifting and Josephine Medina of table tennis. Ancheta holds the record for being the first Filipino to win a medal in the Paralympics after bagging a bronze medal in Sydney, Australia in 2000.  Ancheta won another bronze medal recently in the 2018 World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan in early September. Medina won a bronze medal in 2016 at the Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Philippine Paralympic Committee president Michael Barredo expressed optimism in the Philippine campaign in Jakarta, saying that the Philippines hopes to improve on its five silvers and five bronzes finish in Incheon, South Korea four years ago.

University of the Philippines Professor Francis Carlos Diaz who will serve as Chef de Mission said that the Philippine team went through rigorous training to prepare for this regional event. He thanked the Philippine Sports Commission for the generous support that it extended so that Filipino para athletes could compete for the country.

Donning the national colors are Agustina Bantiloc and Giovanni Ola (archery); Prudencia Panaligan, Andy Avellana, Jerrold Pete Mangliwan, Joel Balatucan, Evaristo Carbonel, Jeanette Acebeda, Marites Burce, Arman Dino and Cendy Asusano (athletics); Jonas Matados, Paz Lita and Kathleen Pedrosa (badminton); Sander Severino, Henry Roger Lopez, Jasper Rom, Minandro Redor, Israel Peligro, Arman Subaste, Francis Ching, Rodolfo Sarmiento, Cecilio Bilog, Fe Mangayayam, Jean-lee Nacita and Cheryl Angot (chess); Arthus Bucay and Godfrey Taberna (cycling); Gener Padilla, Deterson Omas and Carlito Agustin (judo); and Achelle Guion, Agustin Kitan, Marydol Pamatian and Romeo Tayawa (powerlifting).

Also joining the Jakarta trip are Minnie Cadag, Benedicto Gaela, Pablo Catalan, Darwin Salvacion and Smith Billy Cartera (table tennis); Ernie Gawilan, Gary Bejino, Roland Subido, Arnel Aba and Edwin Villanueva (swimming); and Kim Ian Chi, Samuel Matias, Angelito Guloya, Christopher Yue, Francisco Ednaco, Jaime Manginga, Augusto Hernandez, Crisostomo Yao, Noel Espanol and Ruben San Diego (tenpin bowling).

The Asian Para Games is a multi-sport event held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities.The first Asian Games were held in Guangzhou, China in 2010. The second edition was held in 2014 in Incheon, Korea.

This year’s contingent hopes to better their last medal record to inspire other para athletes to break barriers and pursue their dream of representing the country.