Screenshot from the livestream of the 24th Manuel L. Quezon Gawad Parangal, broadcast on the Quezon City Government’s official Facebook page.
What happens when you start a football team next to the largest dumpsite in the Philippines?
That was the idea we had 15 years ago. And it went far beyond the court. Now Fairplay has just been awarded the 2026 Gawad Parangal Award (Pillar of Governance) for Quezon City, the highest honours City Hall give out.
Here’s how we became a pillar for sport in the city.
The Philippines: A Basketball Country
The Philippines is a basketball country. Everything here is about bouncing a ball and throwing it in a hoop.
Payatas FC training at the barangay basketball court, 2011/2012.
Football used to be popular in the Philippines a long time ago, but when the Americans took over the Philippines, they brought with them basketball. That legacy can be seen everywhere. Each community, each barangay, has a basketball court where pickup games are constantly held.
Payatas: A Community Defined by a Dumpsite
Screenshot from “DENR set to close Payatas landfill”, YouTube, UNTV News and Rescue, 2017.
Payatas was then home to the largest dumpsite in the country. Some tried to call it a sanitary landfill but there was nothing “sanitary” nor “landfill” about it.
An Asian Development Survey found toxins that went up to 80 times over legal limits (ADB, 2004), with researchers estimating hundreds of thousands of people living in the community largely surviving through the garbage industry in some form.
In short, Payatas was one of the largest and poorest communities in the Philippines. When people talk about a slum, they picture Payatas.
So where better to start a football team?
Kick-Off
When we first started training sessions, we started at the local barangay basketball court. To her credit, then-Barangay captain Rose Dadulo asked us to focus on out-of-school youth, and that was what we wanted to do anyway.
Given the background of the kids, given their past experiences whereby feeding programs or medical missions come for a single day and you have to fight to get to the front and get yours, the early days were tough.
We measured success in how many fights there were that week. Less fights? Less screaming and shouting? Less swearing at each other? That’s progress.
At the first session, we had over 80 kids on the basketball court. Two balls, plastic chairs for goals, flip flops for cones. But the energy was there. The passion. The potential.
Kids just want to play.
15 Years Later
When we first started, other teams used to tease the kids because they were half the size, because there were girls in our boys teams, and they would say “Payatas payatot” (Payatas is weak). Until the whistle sounded that is. I remember coaches of teams we beat berating their team because Payatas should have been their “warm up” team. Payatas was somewhere you threw garbage away, where the people were even treated as garbage. Throwaways.
15 years later and there are more than 300 registered players this year. Our stockrooms overflow with the trophies they win every year. They have earned more than twenty higher education varsity scholarships, with more every year. Three players have played on the National Futsal Team, all scoring against other countries. One played in the first ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup.
Most importantly for us, though, that first batch of kids are now the coaches. Instead of scavenging, they are trained to coach the younger kids. They also learn to referee through our local tournaments, and now also referee in the High5 Futsal League and regional tournaments like Quezon City Hall’s QC-Wide.
Now, they know Payatas. Now, they know win or lose, they know they are in for a fight.
A Pillar of Sport
Payatas FC has become a pillar in the city. People know Payatas not just for garbage, but in the football world Payatas means something else. And last October 26, 2026, Quezon City officially recognised Fairplay as a Pillar of Sport in Quezon City. Naturally, we are honoured to receive this award.
A pillar is something that is strong, solid, and holds everything up. It provides a foundation, a platform, for everything to succeed above it.
Building the pillar, building the foundations, is often the hardest work. You are starting from scratch. You are wading through the mud. Everything else rests on what you do.
It starts with habits. It starts with standards. Building the layers bit by bit. Whether it’s being on time, sweeping up after training, or closely monitoring our attendance each day, it’s often the little things done well every time that will add up to become the foundation.
Beyond Sports: Fairplay On and Off the Court
Most people know us through sport. When a player from Payatas who had never heard of football before makes the national team, of course it’s a great story. When a child who dropped out of school enters a top University on a Varsity Scholarship and graduates with honours, what an amazing accomplishment.
Of course sport alone cannot accomplish that. Sport is just one pillar for Fairplay.
So while we are known mostly for sports, the good news is our reach goes way beyond the pitch. This coming school year we are aiming for 100 Fairplay Scholars, 400 players, 10 more youth coaches from the community, and a massive level up in our standards and foundations throughout our Sports Center, Youth Center, and even our Fairplay Cafe.
So if you want to be part of something amazing, if you want to help build the foundations that become a pillar of Quezon City, then get in touch with us to become a Fairplay Supporter.
Here’s how you can support a player, a tutor, or a Fairplay Scholar this year.
