Senator Bong Go wants to increase the cash incentives for paralympic athletes, who emerge victorious in international events.
During the joint sendoff ceremony for national athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games on Monday, Go revealed that he has filed a bill seeking to amend the Athletes Incentives law.
The Hangzhou Para Games is set Oct. 22 to 28.
“They train as hard as the elite athletes, so hindi porke sa paragames sila ay mas mababa ang incentives nila,” said Go, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Youth and Sports.
“Sa tulong ng mga kasamahan natin sa senado ay pipilitin nating mapataas ang kanilang incentives para lalo silang mag pursige,” Go added.
Under Republic Act 10699 or the Expanded National Athletes and Coaches Incentives and Benefits Act, national athletes who win medals in international competitions like Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the Olympics will receive cash incentives from the government through the Philippine Sports Commission.
SEA Games gold medalists are entitled to P300,000, and the silver and bronze P150,000 and P60,000, respectively.
ASEAN Para Games athletes receive less, with the gold worth P150,000, silver P75,000 and and bronze P30,00.
In the Asian Games, national elite athletes are granted P2 million, P1M and P400,000 for gold, silver and bronze winners, respectively. Only half of the amounts are allotted to a para athlete.
PSC chairman Richard Bachmann also batted for equal treatment to both the national elite and paralympic athletes in terms of providing cash incentives.
“I want it equal, yes,” he told Philippines Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo.
Barredo has been batting for equal treatment for the para athletes, finding an ally in Go “who has been very supportive.”