THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has set the distribution of cash incentives for national athletes, who produced medals in the recent 29th KL Southeast Asian Games, on Wednesday next week in a simple ceremony in Malacñang.
“In the past days, you have not heard anything from me because I salute the way you fought, the way you play. You made us proud out there,” said PSC chairman William Ramirez to the athletes, who made a courtesy call on Monday.
The Philippines placed 6th among 11 Southeast Asian nations in the biennial with medal haul of 24 golds, 33 silves and 64 bronze. Host Malaysia took the overall plum with a total of 145 gold medals, followed by Thailand (72), Singapore (58), Vietnam (57) and Indonesia (38).
Criticisms from all fronts greeted officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the National Sports Associations for the dismal showing of the Philippine team but Ramirez opted to remain silent and called on all stakeholders to “work together next time, for the benefit of the tax-paying Filipinos.”
“We have to look at where we should work together. Hindi na pwede ung kami-kami or sila-sila because the national pride is at stake here,” added Ramirez.
Meanwhile, as promised, Ramirez hastened the distribution of the cash bonuses for athletes, happening at least two weeks after the Games.
According to the revised Republic Act 9064, the SEA Games medalists will receive cash incentive from the government through the PSC. The gold medal will get P300,000, P150,000 for silver and P60,000 for bronze.
Leading the Filipino medalists is Fil-American Trent Anthony Beram, who achieved a golden double with his victory in the men’s 200m and 400m races and the silver in the men’s 4x100m relay.
With those victories, he will receive P600,000 plus a share in the relay victory.