Singapore Major: Filipino players face return travel issues, ONE “aware and assessing” situation
UPDATE (22 March): The Philippine government has now re-opened its borders to Filipinos returning to the country from overseas, though they will still be subject to quarantine procedures upon their return.
The attendance of Filipino Dota 2 players in the upcoming ONE Esports Singapore Major is in limbo as they may find themselves barred from returning home from the tournament after the Philippines shut its borders to foreigners and restricted the number of Filipinos allowed to return to the country.
The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) announced on Tuesday (16 March) that they suspended travel into the country for both non-Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and foreigners from 20 March to 19 April in the hopes of containing a spike in coronavirus infections.
The Filipino Dota 2 players that qualified for the Singapore Major can still travel to Singapore for the tournament, but are likely to face issues when returning home, with the event scheduled from 27 March to 4 April.
The situation is further complicated by the Singapore Major's own health and safety protocols, as all teams participating in the tournament are required to leave Singapore immediately after they are eliminated.
“We are aware of the situation and seek your understanding while we assess the situation,” organiser ONE Esports said in response to queries from Yahoo Esports SEA.
The Singapore Major is the first Major event of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit, featuring 18 of the best teams from the circuit's six regional leagues competing for the lion's share of a US$500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC point pool.
There are ten Filipino players who qualified for the Singapore Major: John Anthony "Natsumi-" Vargas, Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer, Prieme Ejay "PlayHard" Maque, Andrei "skem" Ong, and Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla from Neon Esports, Marc Polo "Raven" Fausto and Djardel "DJ" Mampusti from Fnatic, Karl "Karl" Jayme and Carlo "Kuku" Palad from T1, and Abed Azel "Abed" Yusop from Evil Geniuses.
Neon Esports announced on their official Twitter page that they are working with T1, Fnatic, and Evil Geniuses as well as the Philippine Games and Amusement Board to ensure that the Filipino players going to the Singapore Major can safely return home.
Apparently going to SG is not the problem. It's the return to PH. We are working with the Games and Amusement Board, a government agency in the Philippines, to see if they can give us a special case with regards to our return. Hoping for the best! 🤞
— Neon Esports 🇵🇭 (@NeonEsportsDota) March 18, 2021
Fnatic's Dota 2 team director, Eric Khor, lamented the timing of the Philippines closing its borders on Yahoo Esports SEA's Game Changer Communities on Wednesday, adding that the sudden travel issue has also affected his team's preparations for the Singapore Major.
"We got through the hump already [of ensuring we can travel to the Major] until the Philippines announced that their citizens couldn’t come back after they leave. We are trying to fix that right now and it’s a mess, a tough nut to crack," said Khor.
"Unfortunately we haven’t really haven’t prepared anything outside of a few meetings for the Major. I’m very sad to say this, but it’s very unfortunate that all these things are coming up."
The Philippine's decision to shut its borders come after the number of daily cases in the country hit a seven-month high of 5,404 on Monday (15 March), with experts predicting that the figure can double by the end of March.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte continues to be lambasted for his government's impotent handling of the pandemic, as the coronavirus has infected more than 630,000 Filipinos and claimed the lives of almost 13,000.
For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page.
