POC Hands Out Cash Incentives to SEA Games Gold Medalists
The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on Tuesday handed out cash incentives to gold medal winners in the 30th Southeast Asian Games following its general assembly held at the Conrad Hotel.
Most of the 149 gold medalists in the SEA Games were present in the affair where individual sports winners received P200,000 and team sports winners got either P50,000, P75,000, or P100,000 depending on the number of members.
POC president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino hailed the gold medal winners that brought honor to the country.
“Our dear athletes, ang mga manlalaro na naghirap, nagpunygi, at humarap sa larangan ng pagtutunggali, maraming, maraming salamat sa inyo. Napatunayan ng nakaraang SEA Games na kapag mayroong wastong pamamalakad at pamumuno, sapat na suporta ng gobyerno at pribadong sector, kaya nating maging number one,” said Tolentino.
Also present during the ceremony was Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) chairman and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Valenzuela Rep. Eric Martinez, and Raymond Zorilla of Phoenix Petroleum.
The POC handed incentives to athletes outside of those being given by the government. The national Olympic body was able to give cash rewards to the winners due to pledges from the private sector such as San Miguel Corporation, MVP Sports Foundation, and the PBA.
Incidentally, the government through the Philippine Sports Commission will give the incentives on Wednesday at Malacañang Palace.
Due to the support of the private sector, Tolentino said the athletes can expect more support following the success of the SEA Games campaign.
“At hindi rito nagtatapos ang pagsusumikap ng inyong Philippine Olympic Committee. Patuloy po tayong makikipagtulungan sa lahat ng sector upang maitaguyod ang ating mga atleta tungo sa mas higit pang mga karangalan,” said Tolentino.
“Ngayon po naman, for the first time in Philippine SEA Games history, ating ginagantimpalaan ang ating mga magigiting na atleta sa pamamagitan ng mga cash incentives,” said Tolentino.
The POC is also set to give P50,000 per athlete to individual silver medalists and teams with two members each, P30,000 for silver medalist with three or more members, as well as all bronze medalists.
The incentives will be available on Thursday and Friday.
This story originally appeared on Spin.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
