President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has described as "the greatest gift" to the country the recent and historic victory of the Philippine women's football national team, Filipinas.
In his message to Team Filipinas, whose members paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday, Marcos said he knew they played their "hearts out" and they did that as they kept remembering they were representing the Philippines.
"It is the years and years of sacrifice that you put in, the amount of training. I can only imagine how hard it was to train during the pandemic," the President said, noting "this is the first time that we have won this championship."
Marcos Jr. said Team Filipinas made Filipinos to become proud of themselves and of their nationality and that they "brought so much joy" to their countrymen.
"nd that I think is the greatest gift that you have given your country," he told the team, which clinched their first-ever AFF Women's Championship crown on Sunday night, July 17.
"Sport means more than just playing games. It means developing discipline, learning how to sacrifice, learning how to be gracious in victory, learning to work with other people as a team... Itong ganitong klaseng achievement walang downside ito (This kind of achievement has no downside). It’s all up, it’s all good, so enjoy it)," he added.