BULACAN’S ROWENA GARCIA IS GAMEZONE TOUR TONG ITS’ FIRST QUEEN!

By Rommel Gonzales

Rowena Garcia of Bulacan won the GameZone Tour Season 5 Championship on Saturday, taking the P500,000 top prize and the Championship Ring and becoming the first woman to win the title in the competition’s five seasons.

Garcia, who competed as Alas ng Bulacan, came through a season that ran from August 3 to September 19. Season 5 was played in daily rounds, with players earning points every playdate and the season standings deciding who advanced. The top nine on that ranking met at the final table in Merville, Parañaque. From nine it narrowed to three, and then to one.

The Grand Finals carried a P1 million prize pool, shared across all nine finalists. Richard Funtilar, the Alas ng Quezon Province, took P200,000 in second place. Donato Ebuena, Alas ng Rizal, took P100,000 in third.

Nobody reaches that table on one good night. Every finalist qualified on points built up across the whole season.

“Almost every Filipino family knows Tong Its. You learn it at home, you play it with your friends. What GameZone does is bring that same table online — the same people, just digital,” said Ava Castillo, Official Spokesperson for GameZone, at a press conference held the same day as the final.

Four champions had been crowned before her, all of them men: Mark Austria in Season 1, Benigno de Guzman Casayuran in Season 2, Jomar Sapo-an in Season 3 and Ahrold Tubig in Season 4. Garcia is the fifth name on that list and the first woman on it.

The finalists carried titles for the places they came from — Alas ng Cebu, Alas ng Misamis Oriental, Alas ng Camarines Norte, Alas ng Sta. Mesa, Alas ng Quezon City, Alas ng Las Piñas — a nod to how Tong Its actually spreads in the Philippines, which is household to household and town to town.

Tong Its is played at family gatherings, at fiestas, on plastic tables under a bare bulb and in almost every Filipino household. What it has not had until recently is a competitive structure — a season, published standings, a final table and a champion on record. GameZone Tour has spent five seasons building that, with the stated ambition of establishing Tong Its as a professional competitive game in its own right, the way poker became one elsewhere.

The difference, as GameZone tells it, is that poker had to be taught to Filipinos. Tong Its did not.

At the same press conference, GameZone also presented GoodZone, its community programme. GoodZone runs feeding initiatives for children in partnership with Bless the Children Foundation, and was new information to most of the media in the room. GameZone describes it as the community side of a platform built around saya and samahan — being present in the same communities its players come from, for a different reason.

GameZone ambassador Manny Pacquiao sent his congratulations to the new champion in a message posted on GameZone Tour’s official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19SEHeKA2e/)

Season 6 follows in the fourth quarter of 2026.

ABOUT GAMEZONE TOUR
GameZone Tour is a season-long Tong Its competition run on the GameZone platform. Players earn points across the season, standings are published, and the highest finishers advance to a Grand Finals. Season 5 ran from 3 August to 19 September 2026. Season 6 follows in the fourth quarter.

ABOUT GAMEZONE
GameZone is where Pinoys play familiar card games online, built around saya, samahan and a trusted playing experience. It is operated by DigiPlus Interactive Corp. and licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. Players must be 21 or older and complete identity verification. Its brand and responsible gaming ambassadors are Vice Ganda and Manny Pacquiao.