FILE– Philippines’s gold medalist Ernie Gawilan (middle) during the medal ceremony of the men’s 400m freestyle-S7 final at the Aquatic Sports Arena in the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre of the 2022 Asian Para Games. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government on Wednesday awarded cash incentives to the winners of the 4th Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou, China last year.
The ceremony, attended by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., also coincided with the Philippine Sports Commission’s 34th anniversary.
“You do not let your disability discourage you from doing what you wanted, nor did it deter you from achieving your dreams. To say that para-athletes are of a different breed and made of harder stuff is an understatement,” said Marcos in his speech.
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“It is only fitting that, apart from the thanks of a grateful nation, we also present you with incentives to help you along. At alam naman natin napakaraming pangangailangan kapag tayo’y lumalaban dito sa mga international sports competition,” the president added.
(And we know that there are a lot of needs when we compete in international sports competitions.)
The total cash incentives given to each of the 12 athletes range from P233,000 to P2.2 million.
READ: Ernie Gawilan wins PH’s first gold in Asian Para Games
This was given in accordance with Republic Act 10699, or the Expanded National Athletes and Coaches Incentives and Benefits Act.
Aside from the athletes, their coaches also received monetary tokens amounting to P6.5 million in total.
This has brought the total amount of incentives released to P19.5 million.
The Filipino para-athletes won ten gold, four silver, and five bronze medals at the competition last October.
They also managed to place the country in ninth place among 45 countries.