On the day of the opening of the Summer Olympic Games, Malacañang Palace announced that President Rodrigo Duterte has approved an additional P100,000 allowance to all 19 Tokyo Olympians and 6 Paralympians “as token and to celebrate the achievement of the athletes qualified for the Olympics and Paralympics.”
Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez was elated on this development, saying that “our athletes deserve this additional show of support. Thank you President Duterte sa lagi niyong suporta sa ating mga atleta.”
This will be on top of the previously approved $1,000 allowance given by the PSC.
The sports agency has spent over P2 billion for foreign exposures, allowances, equipment, venues and supplies of the national team from 2016.
“We can see the sincere care of the President for our athletes, grassroots to elite ito. He is the only president who never missed any Palarong Pambansa, consistently recognized the achievements of our athletes by always inviting them to the Palace and sacrificed standing for three straight hours to award the incentives of our elite athletes,” said the sports chief.
By virtue of RA 10699 or the expanded incentives act, an Olympic medalist stands to receive from the national government 10 million, 5 million and 2 million for a gold, silver or bronze finish respectively. Paralympic medalists shall get P5 million, 2.5 million and 1 million for gold, silver or bronze wins.
Meanwhile, the MVP Sports Foundation through its Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and President Al S. Panlilio, announced it is earmarking cash incentives not only for Filipino Summer Olympics medalists, but also for those who bring honor from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Through the foundation, Pangilinan is allotting financial incentives for Paralympic medalists to the tune of P5M for Gold, P2.5M for silver and P500K for Bronze, mirroring rewards from the government.
The foundation had earlier allocated cash rewards for the Summer Olympians of P10M for a Gold, P5M for a Silver and P2M for a Bronze.
Carrying the Philippine colors in the most prestigious tournament for the differently-abled are Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino of Para Swimming; Jerrold Magliwan and Janette Aceveda of Para Athletics; Allain Ganapin of Para Taekwondo, and Achelle Guion of Para Powerlifting.
