PSC assists track legend

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) doled out a financial assistance of P300,000 to help cover the medical expenses of track legend Lydia de Vega-Mercado, who had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.

PSC executive director Atty. Guillermo Iroy Jr. told Daily Tribune that they formally handed a check worth P300,000 to de Vega-Mercado’s daughter, Stephanie, on Friday morning at the PSC main office at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

The 57-year-old former Asia’s Sprint Queen is in critical condition at the Makati Medical Center.

The younger Mercado said her mother’s condition continues to deteriorate despite undergoing numerous procedures in the past, including brain surgery.

With that, no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally instructed Iroy to reach out and attend to her personal needs as soon as possible.

It didn’t take long for Iroy to carry out the President’s special order.

“We already handed a check worth P300,000 to her daughter, Stephanie, this morning,” Iroy, who is also the agency’s officer-in-charge, said.

De Vega-Mercado had served as a national treasurer during her prime.

She is regarded as one of Asia’s greatest athletes for winning gold medals in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter runs of the Asian Athletics Championships in 1983 and 1987.

She also ruled the women’s 100-meter event of the 1982 New Delhi and 1986 Seoul Asian Games and pocketed a total of nine gold and two silver medals in six editions of the Southeast Asian Games.

After her athletic career, she moved to Singapore to coach students at the primary and secondary levels.

But now, she is in dire need of financial support as she continues to fight for her life.

“I am requesting everyone to please pray for her in this desperate time of need,” Mercado, who played college volleyball at De La Salle University.

“If anyone would like to assist financially to cover her medical expenses, any donation would be deeply and wholeheartedly appreciated.”

We already handed a check worth P300,000 to her daughter, Stephanie, this morning.