PH Now Has Its Own eSports Governing Body
In order to strengthen the foundation of eSports in the country, Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino along with several Philippine eSports representatives officially formed The Philippine eSports Associaiton (PeSPA) on September 2.
PeSPA will be the official governing body of eSports in the country much like the Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) in South Korea. KeSPA along with the Korean government supports the eSports scene in their country, from amateur leagues to professional tournaments.
KeSPA also coordinates with game developers and handles the rights of professional players. It aims to reduce the negative perception of competitive gaming and video games, as a whole.
Its Philippine counterpart, PeSPA, also has the same goals and more. PeSPA plans to create a unified calendar of events to avoid schedule conflicts in future eSports events. It will also protect players and manage conflicts by creating a quasi-E-sports court of law.
The E-Sports court of law aims to make eSports in the Philippines a more established industry. It will help avoid exploitation of players and solve complications through due process.
The first set of officers were also elected on the same day with Joebert Yu of Gariath Concepts as PeSPA’s first Chairman while Brian Lim of Philippine Esports Organization (PeSO) was elected as Vice-Chairman. For Treasurer, TNC’s Eric Redulfin was elected and Garena’s Jan Chiong as the Corporate Secretary.
The Philippines is the third country in Southeast Asia that has an eSports governing body following Indonesia and Malaysia while KeSPA was the first eSports body the was established in the world.
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