More honors await two more of the country’s Olympic medalists as the House of Representatives is set to confer the Congressional Medal of Distinction on boxers Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial, who bagged a silver and a bronze, respectively, in the recently-concluded Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano earlier filed House Resolution 2093 congratulating, commending and conferring the Congressional Medal of Distinction to Nesthy Petecio for winning the country’s first-ever Olympic silver medal in women’s boxing.
The House leaders will also file similar resolutions for Paalam and Marcial.
Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz was earlier conferred the newly-created Congressional Medal of Excellence. She was awarded the Congressional Medal of Distinction for bagging the silver medal in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
The House—through a resolution filed by Velasco, Romualdez and Paduano—created the Congressional Medal of Excellence to be given exclusively to Olympic gold medalists.
“Speaker Velasco’s leadership recognizes our athletes’ achievements during the Tokyo Olympics. Thank you for showcasing your commitment to bring pride and honor for our country,” said Romualdez, chairman of the House committee on rules.
“Our athletes worked very hard to a bid ever with record-breaking four medals and made the Philippines as the best performing nation in Southeast Asia. All of you made us extremely proud,” he added.
Team Philippines finished its Olympic bid with the country’s best showing—including Diaz’s historic gold.