Not many cities can trace a sporting movement back to a single race-day observation, but Dumaguete very nearly can. Back in 2023, Bernabe Bustillo, working as a technical official at the Ultra Marathon from Dumaguete to Guihulngan, noticed something rather unusual on the sidelines: doctors and nurses in Guihulngan, playing pickleball during their downtime. He brought the idea home, pitched it to the City Sports and Youth Development Office, and what started as a grassroots curiosity has since exploded into something considerably bigger—a city now widely regarded as the Pickleball Capital of the Philippines.
The numbers back that claim up rather emphatically. Dumaguete now counts more than 300 courts within city limits alone, with thousands more scattered across Negros Oriental as a whole—a dramatic leap from the roughly 50 public and private courts the city had only a couple of years ago. What began as free neighbourhood hobby spaces has, in several cases, turned into genuine small businesses too, with private court owners like Marvin Kho watching their modest backyard setups evolve into proper commercial venues.
That kind of organic growth hasn’t gone unnoticed nationally. The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has now pledged its support to Dumaguete, with PSC chair John Patrick Gregorio framing the city’s rise as a template other local governments could follow. “This is how we build pathways from grassroots to gold, and from gold to greatness,” Gregorio said, speaking during the “Handog ng Pangulo” service caravan in Dumaguete, held to mark President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 69th birthday. He was careful to note the backing wouldn’t come at the expense of other disciplines, pledging support for world-class facilities in football, athletics, archery, and beyond alongside pickleball’s continued growth.
Local leadership—Negros Oriental Governor Chaco Sagarbarria, Dumaguete Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria, and Congresswoman Maisa Sagarbarria—has thrown its weight behind the movement too, positioning the city as a broader model for holistic sports development rather than a one-sport success story.
Mayor Sagarbarria pointed to something more practical behind the enthusiasm as well. “We have an aging population here in Dumaguete as well as in the province, so pickleball is a perfect sport for us,” he said—a reminder that behind the courts and the commercial buzz, this is still fundamentally a sport built around community, accessibility, and keeping people of every age moving.
