Philippine President Marcos not first leader to award cash to athletes

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 23, 2023 at 09:17
Updated on August 23, 2023 at 09:30
3 min read
By Ara Eugenio, AFP Philippines

President Ferdinand Marcos is not the first Philippine leader to award cash incentives to athletes who have excelled in international competitions, contrary to false posts shared in the archipelago. Government records show his predecessors did so, as required by law.

"OMG THIS IS HISTORIC!" says the Tagalog-language title of a YouTube video with more than 23,000 views.

"THIS JUST HAPPENED FOR THE FIRST TIME PBBM REWARD CASH CHEQUE FOR FILIPINO ATHLETES."

'PBBM' stands for President Bongbong Marcos, referring to the leader's popular nickname.

The video, posted on August 9, shows Marcos addressing athletes who bagged medals at the Southeast Asian Games and Para Games in Cambodia in May and June.

The footage was originally uploaded by Philippine state-run broadcaster RTVM.

The Philippines finished fifth in both competitions held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (archived links here and here).

Screenshot of false post taken August 17, 2023.

Similar false Facebook posts were shared here, here and here.

"Congratulations to all the awardees wishing you more gold medals. Thanks Mr. PBBM this is history," one Facebook user commented.

"It's true, this is the first time a president is giving rewards to our athletes. This never happened before," another wrote.

However, previous Philippine presidents had given cash awards to athletes after they won major international sporting events.

Previous awards

Marcos's predecessor Rodrigo Duterte awarded cash incentives to four athletes who won medals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was the country's best ever performance.

Duterte handed out cheques, certificates and medals to athletes in a ceremony in August 2021 broadcast by RTVM.

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who became the first athlete from the Philippines to win an Olympic gold medal, received a 10 million pesos ($178,000) reward.

Boxers Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, who bagged silver medals, received five million pesos ($88,000) each. Meanwhile, boxer Eumir Marcial took home two million pesos ($36,000) for his bronze medal.

Duterte previously awarded incentives to winners of the 19th Southeast Asian Games, where the Philippine team topped the medal count with 149 golds (archived links here and here).

During former president Benigno Aquino III's term, athletes including archer Luis Gabriel Moreno and Filipino-American cyclist Daniel Patrick Caluag were awarded over 7.9 million pesos ($140,000), Philippine newspaper Inquirer reported in 2014 (archived link).

The Inquirer also reported that Filipino para-athletes were given awards amounting to 6.8 million pesos ($120,000) during Aquino's term, after winning a string of gold, silver and bronze medals at the 8th Asean Para Games in Singapore in 2016 (archived link).

Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had once given roughly 30 million pesos ($530,000) in cash incentives to former athletes who excelled in various international championships, according to Philippine Star (archived link).

Mandated by law

According to Republic Act No. 9064, which was signed by Arroyo in 2001, athletes who excel in international competitions -- as well as their coaches -- are entitled to cash incentives and other non-monetary benefits (archived link).

The rewards included five million pesos for gold medalists at the Olympics and one million pesos for gold medalists at the Asian Games.

In 2015, Aquino signed Republic Act No. 10699 which increased these rewards (archived link).

Before these laws were signed, former president Fidel Ramos provided a one-time gratuity award and monthly incentive allowance plan to athletes who won international sports competitions through Administrative Order No. 352 in 1997 (archived link).

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