Top surfers in the Philippines are expected to go toe-to-toe in the upcoming National Surfing Competition in Eastern Samar from November 26 to December 3.

This as the local government unit of the Borongan City revealed the total cash prize amounting to P1.1 million, which the organizers claimed the biggest in Philippine surfing history.

During the recent National Surf Summit in San Fernando City, La Union, Borongan City Information Office officer-in-charge Rupert Ambil announced that the third year hosting of the city will mark a historic feat in the sport’s history in the country.

Dubbed as “Surf in the City,” the annual sports festival is expected to gather the best surfers from all over the country as they compete in the third leg of national surfing competition sanctioned by the United Philippine Surfing Association (UPSA).

The top prizes for both longboard and shortboard category is set at P80,000 for the winners, while runners up will take home P50,000 each. Meanwhile, the third placers will receive P25,000 each.

Even the 5th up to the 9th ranking competitors will be going home with up to P10,000 cash prize.

In the category for below 18, top finishers will receive P20,000 while the 2nd placer and the 3rd placers will bring home, P15,000 and P8,000, respectively.

Ambil emphasized that the competition also aimed to close the gap between the prize money for the men's and women’s division, giving the same amount to winners from both categories.

“The City Government of Borongan, along with its stakeholders, would like to make a statement during the Surf in the City Festival. This is the first surfing competition where the prize for both Men’s and Women’s Division will be equal,” Ambil said.

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He also shared that the hosting of the annual surfing competition has positively impacted the tourism in Borongan City and in the province of Eastern Samar, citing a commercial airline that is set to open a direct flight route from Manila to Borongan City later this month.

“I am grateful to our local government’s leadership for their unwavering and united support for this sports movement. We hope that this will become a template for other sports as well as a great foundation to our vision to professionalize surfing and produce the next Filipino surfing athlete who will bag medals in the Olympics,” Ambil added.

Preparations for the “Surf in the City” festival are now in full swing with less than a month left before the competition.

“We are excited to welcome back our surfers from around the Philippines. We look forward to sharing with them our beautiful and clean surfing playground, along with the usual Boronganon hospitality and top-notch events organization,” Borongan City Mayor Dayan Agda said.

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