Senator Sonny Angara on Thursday, May 12 said Filipino athletes competing in the 31st Southeast Asian Games or SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam who will bring home medals will receive cash benefits for their achievements.

Angara, sponsor and author of Republic Act 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act, said gold medalists in the SEA Games will each get P300,000, while the silver and bronze medalists will receive P150,000 and P60,000 respectively.

According to Angara, Mary Francine Padios, who won the country its first gold medal in the ongoing SEA Games with her masterful performance in the Pencak Silat women artistic singles finals, stand to benefit from the law.

“We expect to see more victories by our Philippine Team and hopefully, even surpass the 149 gold medal haul in the 2019 games,” Angara said.

Apart from Padios’ gold, among the early medal winners were the Philippine men’s beach handball team, men’s lightweight double sculls and Helen Aclopen Talongen (Kurash 48-kg) who all took home silver; and George Baclagan (Kurash 90-kg), Charlie Quelino (Kurash 52-kg), and the women’s quadruple sculls, who secured bronze.

For team events with five or more participants, the senator said each team member is entitled to receive 25 percent of the cash incentives for individual medal winners.

In the case of competitions with less than five participants per team, they will receive the same cash incentives as individual medal winners and will divide this equally among themselves.

Angara also said the law, likewise, grants cash incentives to the coaches of the winning athletes or teams equivalent to 50 percent of the cash reward for gold, silver and bronze medalists.

It was Angara who sought to expand the coverage of incentives granted to national athletes and coaches after seeing the impressive performance of the Philippine contingent in the 30th SEA Games.

“Sports continue to provide us with, not only entertainment, but also a respite from the problems and challenges we face every day, including the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years and more recently, the fatigue and stress of the campaign for the national elections,” the senator pointed out.

“This is why we must continue to recognize the achievements of our athletes, who through hard work and the dedication to their craft, give us inspiration and something to cheer about,” he stressed.