Duterte honors Filipino Asiad medalists

September 12, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte thanked on Wednesday the 25 Filipino Asian Games medalists for bringing honor to the country.

In a speech during the ceremony in Malacanang, Duterte said that additional incentives would be given to the medalists.

"I congratulate our athletes and their coaches for their efforts in bringing honor and recognition in the Philippines --- to the Philippines in the field of sports. We Filipinos have always been known for our competitive spirit, and this year we did not --- and this year, we did not fall short of showing our trait to our neighbors," he said.

"I have already directed the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) to provide additional incentives, to be sourced from its funds, to the winning individuals of the 18th Asian Games," Duterte added.

Under Republic Act No. 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act, Asian Games individual gold medalists would receive P2 million each; silver medalists, P1 million each; and bronze medalists, P400,000 each. For team events, for competitions with less than five participants per team, the team shall receive the same cash incentives for individual medal winners, to be divided equally among the team members actually present during the competition.

In the 18th Asian Games, there were three individual gold medalists and one team gold medalist. The rest brought home silver or gold medals.

According to Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go, an individual gold medalist received as much as P8 million. The fund came from the government and other private individuals. Celerina Monte/DMS