Marcos honors Asiad medal winners

MANILA, Philippines — “Keep aspiring, keep believing.”

This was the advice of President Marcos as he personally congratulated and doubled the incentives for the 33 Filipino athletes who snared medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games early this month.

The Chief Executive hosted the “Gabi ng Parangal at Pasasalamat Para sa Bayaning Atletang Pilipino” at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum last night where the new breed of heroes were entertained and honored in a grand ceremony attended by students from nearby schools.

“Keep working, spare no effort to unlock your potential and be the best versions of yourselves knowing fully well that the government and the entire nation is behind you in every step of the way,” said the ecstatic President.

“Ang sarap, sarap isigaw, I’m proud to be a Filipino at salamat sa pagiging bahagi ng bagong Pilipinas,” he added.

A total of P19.1 million was handed out to the four gold, two silver and 12 bronze medal winners from the Expanded Athletes Incentives Act, coming from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., plus P22.8 million from the President himself, practically doubling the incentives for the Asiad medalists.

Under the Inventive Act, an Asiad gold is worth P2 million, a silver P1 million and a bronze P400,000.

In all, an individual gold winner took home a total of P4 million plus an extra P1 million that was promised by the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Members of the Gilas squad, for their part, each got P500,000.

Gilas Pilipinas, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena and jiu-jitsu’s Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez accounted for the country’s mints while Eumir Marcial of boxing and Arnel Mandal of wushu delivered the two silvers.

The bronzes were from Patrick King Perez of taekwondo, Jones Inso, Gideon Padua and Clemente Tabugara, Jr. of wushu, Alex Eala and Francis Alcantara of tennis, Patrick Coo of cycling, Elreen Ando of weightlifting, Kaila Napolis of jiu-jitsu, Sakura Alforte of karate and the men’s sepak takraw squad.

They were also honored with a Presidential citation.

With the exception of Obiena, cagers Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame, and Eala, all were present.

Obiena’s mom, Jeanette, received the incentives in behalf of the World No. 2,