The Office of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Thursday, December 5, the House of Representatives will raise at least PHP 10 million collected from the January 2020 salaries of all its members to grant additional benefits to Filipino gold medalists of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG),
The pledge is contained in House Resolution 568 congratulating the Filipino winners in the SEA Games, which commends the athletes for the Philippines’ massive medal haul.
Speaker Cayetano, who chairs the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee, and other House leaders took the initiative to provide additional incentives to the winning athletes.
“Whereas, as a concrete manifestation of the commonality of the goal to bring honor and pride to the country, the leaders and members of the House of Representatives deem it proper to deduct individual pledges from their salaries for January 2020 as additional incentives to Filipino gold medal winners in the 30th SEA Games,” the resolution read.
The resolution further stated that “by winning gold medals in their respective sports in the 30th SEA Games and for bringing great honor and pride to the Filipino people, it is but fitting to grant these athletes the additional incentives from the Philippine Olympic Committee and the House of Representatives.”
The additional incentive from the House for gold medalists is on top of what they are entitled to under the law and the cash prizes given to them by the POC.
“The leaders and members of the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress stood in solidarity with Team Philippines throughout the competition in their quest to capture the gold medals in their respective sports, and bring honor and pride to the Filipino people,” the resolution read.
A total of 1,094 Filipino athletes, backed up by 753 coaches, are competing in this SEAG.
Source: Politics