HANOI. — Cash incentives from the Philippine Sports Commission await medal-winning athletes in the 31st Southeast Asian Games here.
Under Republic Act 10699, also known as the National Athletes and Coaches Incentives and Benefits Act, a Filipino athlete who wins an individual gold in the SEA Games will receive P300,000 while the silver and bronze are worth P150,000 and P60,000, respectively.
Team Philippines has so far won 20 gold medals plus 27 silver and 37 bronze medals as of Sunday.
“I congratulate our athletes for a job well done. We’ll be expecting more medals to be won by Team Philippines in the coming days,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez.
The cash windfall from the government won’t be the only monetary incentives for medal-winning athletes in the SEA Games.
By tradition, President Duterte also awards cash bonuses, matching the incentives received by the athletes from the PSC.
“Knowing the President, it’s his style to give additional cash bonuses aside from the incentives provided for by the law once the athletes visit him in Malacañang,” said Ramirez.
Also under the law, the coaches of podium finishers will get 50 percent of the amount their athletes received.
For team cash incentives, a team of four or less will receive the equivalent of the corresponding individual medal they had won while each member of a team with five members or more are entitled to 25 percent of the individual medal’s worth.
Medal winners who also surpassed existing Philippine records, SEA Games standards or records in any measurable international competition will also receive cash incentives as determined by the PSC.
Funding for the cash bonuses from the government is taken from the net cash income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation to be remitted to the National Sports Development Fund of the PSC.
This is over and above the regular income that is remitted to the PSC by Pagcor.
