Negros Occidental Launches City-Wide Esports Competition to Foster Education in Gaming

CADIZ CITY — Tuesday marked the commencement of the Negros Occidental Governor’s Cup Esports Competition, an initiative spanning nine cities, which aims to foster esports education in public schools across the province.

According to Philippines News Agency, vocational school administrator at the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (NOLITC), the event began in Cadiz City under the collaborative efforts of the Office of the Governor and AcadArena Technologies, a prominent campus gaming institution. The competition’s inaugural theme is ‘Not Just Play.’

In Cadiz City, the participants from Dr. Vicente F. Gustilo Memorial National High School dominated the event, clinching the top three positions by Tuesday evening. The contest extends to eight additional cities—Sagay, Escalante, Talisay, Sipalay, Kabankalan, San Carlos, Bago, and La Carlota—with the series concluding in the last week of November.

Orbecido elaborated that the victors from the city-level contests would advance to the ‘Battle of the Champions’ at the Panaad sa Negros Festival scheduled for the following year. The ultimate goal is to cultivate local esports talents for national competitions.

The current Governor’s Cup boasts a PHP160,000 total prize fund. Each city champion team will earn PHP7,000, the first runner-up PHP5,000, and the second runner-up PHP3,800. Additional individual awards include PHP1,000 each for the Finals Most Valuable Player and the AcadArena Not Just Play Award recipient.

This initiative is part of a broader collaboration begun in February between NOLITC and AcadArena Technologies, an organization esteemed for its contributions to campus gaming and esports education in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The partnership focuses on campaigns surrounding Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship, and Innovation.

Orbecido highlighted the importance of esports as an industry with burgeoning global opportunities and stressed the program’s commitment to dispelling misconceptions about esports, emphasizing its educational and collaborative potential.