House Bill offers cash bonus to Palaro winners

MANILA, Philippines - The top performers in future Palarong Pambansa or National Games stand to receive not just medals and awards but also cash incentives.

A House Bill seeking to give winners of the annual multi-sports meet for elementary and high school students cash prizes is being discussed in Congress and if enacted into law would further motivate the student-athletes to strive for excellence.

House Bill No. 3164, authored by Third District Negros Occidental Representative Albee Benitez, wants the government to give gold, silver and bronze medal winners in the Palaro cash bonuses worth P10,000, P5,000 and P3,000 each, respectively.

This year’s Palaro is set May 8-14 in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.

Sarangani Rep. and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Mark Zambar of Party List Partido ng Bayaning Atleta have supported the bill.

“There is a need to also reinvigorate the national sports event that is the culmination of said local sports competition like the Palarong Pambansa, which is a perfect venue to rear future athletes that can excel in international competitions,” said Benitez.

“This measure proposes the revitalization of the Palaro as the premiere national sports event and specifically aims to provide for incentives to athletes and schools participating while formulating marketing and communications plan in promoting the event,” he added.

The same amount is also being proposed for medal winners in doubles events and team competitions.

To fund these, the DepEd shall propose an amount to fund the implementation of this particular Act, which will be included in its budget in the General Appropriations Act starting from the first year of effectivity of such bill.

The same bill also seeks to institutionalize the Palaro by appointing a five-member board composed of the Department Education Secretary, its Task Force on School Sports chief, regional directors, a representative from the National Youth Commission and head of the host local government unit.

It also aims to have fixed sports events – 20 in the high school division and 16 in elementary section.

These include athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, football, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball for elementary and archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, cheerdance, dancesports, football, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball for high school.