House panel OKs tax exemption on donation to athletes

MANILA, Philippines — A proposal to exempt from taxes donations and prizes for athletes joining international sports competitions has hurdled the House of Representatives’ committee on ways and means.

Panel chairman Rep. Joey Salceda said House Bill 421, approved by his committee yesterday, “exempts not just the prizes that are handed out by brands and companies after the win,” but also “the donations toward their training one year before the competition.”

HB 421, originally dubbed the “Hidilyn Diaz Law” in the 18th Congress (2019-2022), didn’t make it in the Senate.

Salceda said the measure should also be named in honor of gymnast Carlos Yulo, who won two gold medals in the ongoing Paris Olympics. Weightlifter Diaz won the country’s first gold medal in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“What that teaches us is that the prize is never won on the day of the competition itself, but years before. Hard work, determination and sheer grit through many years of training wins over talent,” Salceda said, recalling Yulo’s interview when he was 12 years old that winning the Olympics was his “dream.”

“It follows the philosophy I have espoused as Albay governor: rescue is a bad word, because there is no need for rescue when all preparations have been made. Capacity is everything. The approach is to incentivize not the prize, but the preparation. Champions are not made overnight,” Salceda said.

Salceda’s committee also approved making the bill’s exemption “retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024.” 

Rep. LRay Villafuerte moved for the “plenary approval” of the measure, now called the “Carlos Yulo bill.” The senior administration legislator was author of House Bill 8226, one of the six bills incorporated into the committee-passed substitute bill. 

“Yulo’s victory should prompt our sports officials to give a long hard look at giving priority to the development of relatively non-traditional sports like gymnastics to further sharpen our global edge in international sports competitions,” the Camarines Sur second district congressman said. 

“If we sharpen our focus on sports disciplines like gymnastics and hire A-1 coaches and trainers from overseas to mentor our promising athletes, I am sure we will