Siklab sparks athletes’ fire with cash bonuses

There’s a lot more waiting for Filipino athletes who perform well in the 18th Asian Games. For starters, a gold medalist will be P5 million richer.

The Siklab Atleta Pilipinas Sports Foundation has thrown an additional one million pesos to the pot awaiting Asian champions in the event that kicks off Saturday in Indonesia.

“We want to help fuel the country’s dream of global recognition in sports,” said Siklab Atleta chair and Presidential Adviser on Sports Dennis Uy. “Through this incentive, we hope to motivate and inspire our athletes to excel and bring pride to our country.”

By law, the government, through the Philippine Sports Commission, already earmarks P2 million for gold medal winners in the Asiad while the POC has promised to fork P2 million for top Filipino performers.

“The additional cash incentive from Siklab Foundation will definitely motivate our athletes to work harder and bring home a medal from the Asian Games,” said PSC Chair Butch Ramirez.

Siklab Atleta Pilipinas is the first sports foundation of its kind, an initiative by the private sector to help the country’s quest for a first Olympic gold medal.

The foundation also offers cash bonuses for other medalists: Silver winners will get P500,000 and bronze finishers will receive P250,000.

Aside from providing cash incentives, Siklab Atleta Pilipinas will also use its pooled funds to provide the country’s best athletes their needs—from training equipment and facilities, coaching, international exposure, education, housing and livelihood programs.

Among those that have dumped cash into the pool are the country’s largest corporations such as SM Investments Corp., RFM Corp., Alaska Corp., Belle Resources, Tanduay Distillery, JG Summit, Megawide Construction, San Miguel Corp., PLDT, Phoenix Petroleum, 2GO, Megaworld, Robinsons Land and Piatco.