Team PH to visit Duterte as PSC readies incentives
MANILA - Team Philippines celebrates its astonishing success in the 30th Southeast Asian Games and looks forward to December 18 when they meet President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacanang during the incentives awarding for all winners.
Republic Act 10699 provides for cash incentives for winners of the SEA Games to receive P300,000, P150,000 and P60,000 respectively for gold, silver and bronze finishes.
The President is expected to give out additional incentives of P250,000 for gold, P150,000 for silver and P100,000 for bronze medalists.
Philippine Sports Commission Chairman and Team Philippines’ Chef de Mission Butch Ramirez is all smiles as he broke the news yesterday, following a courtesy call by the Philippine surfing team at the PSC office in Manila.
“We were all hoping and praying for this, but it is still a sweet surprise now that it is actually happening. I am so proud of our athletes. All of them deserve our respect and love,” said Ramirez who stood as the father-figure for the delegation from preparation to competition.
Eighteen months prior to the hosting of the multi-sport event,
PSC already planned out the preparations intended to improve our national team’s performance.
Ramirez openly expressed that supporting our athletes may be our only way to duplicate the “Miracle of 2005 SEA Games” where the country bagged its first overall championship in the event with a total medal haul of 112 gold, 85 silvers and 93 bronze medals. It was the first overall crown for the Philippines in the biennial event.
Ramirez also cited the legacies of the Games, giving emphasis on the intangible but important bequests like character and values that sports show the youth of the Southeast Asian region. “Our athletes give them varied choices of good role models to emulate,” he said, patting surfer Roger Casugay.