The House of Representatives on Monday adopted a resolution institutionalizing the Congressional Medal of Excellence, with Tokyo Summer Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz as the very first recipient of the award.
House Resolution 1981 – introduced by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano – creates the newest congressional award to be given exclusively to athletes who will win a gold medal in the Olympic Games.
The House also adopted HR 2041 congratulating, commending and awarding the Congressional Medal of Excellence to Diaz for her historic gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
HR 2041 was introduced by Velasco, Romualdez, Paduano, Isabela 5th District Rep. Faustino Michael Carlos Dy III and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe.
The Congressional Medal of Excellence was created to give honor and commendation to “exceptional modern-day national heroes in sports who win the gold medal in the Olympics.”
The award, according to the authors of HR 1981, will “immortalize the achievements” of Olympic gold medalists and “give them a legacy to leave behind by providing future generations with inspirational lessons that they can take to heart.”
There are currently two congressional medals being handed out by the House: Congressional Medal of Distinction and Congressional Medal of Achievement.
The Congressional Medal of Distinction is given to Filipino achievers in sports, business, medicine, science, and arts and culture; while the Congressional Medal of Achievement is awarded to political, economic, and cultural leaders, who have distinguished themselves through their life-work and their vision.
Five years ago, the House awarded Diaz the Congressional Medal of Distinction for winning a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue to clarify what the agency will do with the pledges for Diaz that now amount to about P72.5 million.
Salceda, chairman of the ways and means committee, said he wants an iron-clad guarantee from the state tax agency that it “will consider the pledges as bequests and therefore not subject to income tax.”
“In other words, Diaz and other athletes will not pay taxes under the current law,” he said.
The BIR earlier said it will only subject the donor to donor’s taxes, and that the pledges will not be part of the taxable income of Diaz or other Olympians.
“I say this because the tax code is not very clear as to what qualifies as ‘bequests.’ I am not so sure what basis BIR will use, because the tax code is unclear on this matter, and the BIR has not issued a revenue regulation either,” Salceda said.
“But at least we have BIR on record saying that our national athletes will not pay taxes on the pledges. That is for sure,” he added.