Officials set to raise SEA Games incentive

THE  PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) will host a meeting today among officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and heads of the sports committee in the Senate and House to discuss the possibility of raising the cash incentives of Filipino medalists in the Southeast Asian Games.

POC chair Tom Carrasco  said PSC chair Richie Garcia had invited  to the meeting POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., Sen. Sonny Angara, who heads the Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports and Rep. Anthony Del Rosario,  the committee chair on Youth and Sports Development in the House.

“We’ll sit down to discuss the possible increase of the SEA Games incentives,” Carrasco told the Inquirer.

Under Republic Act 9064, known as the Sports Incentives Act, a gold medalist in the SEA Games gets a cash reward of P100,000, a silver performer  P50,000 and the bronze medalist P10,000.

“As to how much is the increase, we still don’t know. We’re going to talk about it,” said Carrasco, also president of the Triathlon Association of the Philippines.

The Philippines placed sixth overall among 11 countries after bringing home 29 gold, 36 silver and 66 bronze medals in the last SEAG in Singapore this month.

“There were several discussions already in the House and Senate to increase the incentives, including the top Filipino performers in the Asian Games and Olympics,’’ said Carrasco, whose athletes Claire Adorna and Nikko Huelgas swept the golds in women’s and men’s triathlon in the Singapore Games.

“Both the House and the Senate are very supportive,’’ he added.

The medalists, led by the record-smashing feats of Caleb Stuart and Eric Cray in track and field, stand to receive a total of P9.015 million in cash incentives from the PSC together with their respective coaches.

Cray, who is based in San Antonio, Texas, earned P300,000 after winning the men’s 100m dash and shattering the Games record in the 400m hurdles while Stuart, who erased the SEAG mark in the hammer throw, netted P200,000.

They both earned another P100,000 each for the record-breaking exploits on top of their gold medals.