ZAMBOANGA CITY — Team BaiPass of Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) clinched the top spot in the Zamboanga City leg of the Provincial Cyber Hunt Capture-the-Flag (CTF) League 2026, leading local student qualifiers to the upcoming regional Hack4Gov competition.
Organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Region 9, the provincial qualifiers challenged tertiary tech teams to solve real-time cybersecurity scenarios involving threat mitigation, vulnerability analysis, and network defense.
WMSU’s Team BaiPass swept the Zamboanga City leg on Sept. 23. The championship roster included computer science and information technology students John Lloyd Climaco (Tantalost), Hans Adrian Lao (Athelstan), Earl Kian Bacayrin (Noir), and NeilJam Juson (Kosuro).
Four other local teams qualified alongside WMSU for the regional stage: WMSU’s Team Byte Me, Team OOP of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU), Team virUZ.exe of Universidad de Zamboanga, and Team 0logic (AdZU).
Individually, five WMSU participants placed in the city’s Top 10 rankings: Ahlan-nour Sencio (2nd), Climaco (3rd), Juson (6th), Vaniel Cornelio (7th), and Lao (10th).
Regional Leg Results
Zamboanga Sibugay (Sept. 15): Sibugay Technical Institute Incorporated (STII) led the leg, with Team sh3llSh0cked taking the provincial title and Team P4cKet zER0 placing as runner-up. Teams from Universidad de Zamboanga–Ipil and Mindanao State University–Buug also secured qualifying spots.
Zamboanga del Sur: Saint Columban College (SCC) took top honors as Team One Group claimed the provincial championship. SCC’s Team Byte4rce took second runner-up, while Team Bytesize of JH Cerilles State College secured first runner-up.
Provincial winners will represent their respective areas in the Regional Hack4Gov finals, competing against top tech teams across the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (BASULTA) region for a spot in the national competition.
