THE Philippine Sports Commission has decided to reward pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena with P250,000 for booking a new national record of 5.91 meters in his silver-medal finish in the Diamond League athletic series leg at the Charlety Stadium in Paris, France over the weekend.
Commissioner Ramon Fernandez confirmed yesterday the PSC board, led by Chairman Butch Ramirez, approved the bonus in its meeting last Tuesday based on the provisions of Republic Act 10699, the incentives law.
In his second outing after the Tokyo Olympic Games, Obiena eclipsed his old mark of 5.87 meters set last July 1 when he finished runner-up in the Irena Szwewinska Memorial meet in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
The PSC had earlier awarded P5 million to Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalist Hidylin Diaz, who set Olympic records in the combined liftand clean-and-jerk of 223 and 127 kilos, respectively, when she ruled the women’s weightlifting 55-kg. division last July 26 at the Tokyo International Forum.
“The board recognizes the sacrifices and achievements of our national athletes and we hope that these incentives will spur our other campaigners to attain excellence in international competitions,” Fernandez said.
Emerson Obiena, the athlete’s father-coach, said the recognition and bonus would motivate his son to do even better when he competes in the Allianz Memorial Van Damme, the penultimate leg of the Diamond League series, tomorrow (Saturday in Manila) at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
The event is named after colorful Belgian middle distance runner Ivo Van Damme, who won a pair of silver medals in the men’s 800 and 1,500-meter events of the 1976 Montreal Olympics and died due to a car accident at the age of 22 as he was going to his wedding.
“I am sure that this reward will serve as a great encouragement for EJ when he competes in Brussels,” the elder Obiena, who is also the national pole vault coach, said. “We only learned from him last Monday that he was invited to the competition.”
