Parity for Paralympians

Sports law professor Atty. Al Agra is on a mission: to get equal treatment for all Paralympians and all Para athletes. In an interview with The STAR and dwAN 1206 AM, the president of the Philippine Obstacle Sports Federation, cites legalized inequalities that provide Para athletes only half of the incentives due to regularly-abled athletes, as provided for in Republic Act 10699 or the Incentives Act, which was expanded to include coaches and trainers. For example, any Paralympian athlete who wins a gold medal will only receive P5 million, unlike, say, Carlos Yulo and Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, who got P10 million per gold.

“In my view, this is unfair and discriminatory to our disabled athletes,” says Agra. “So if we look at the law, whether it be Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, Olympics or their counterparts for our athletes with disabilities, it looks like our lawmakers look at them as only half.”

Agra also argues that Para athletes actually go through more hardship, given their physical limitations. He says that the training and struggle is the same for all athletes. Thus, they should be considered equal under performance-based incentive laws. The Ateneo law professor has campaigned for legislators to change the law, and believes the advocacy has many voices and is gaining traction.

Though some argue that the Olympics are more prestigious and the Paralympics have too many different categories, we can’t discount the similar drive and effort for athletes to qualify and win.

“We call them adaptive athletes in the obstacle sports federation, not disabled athletes,” he continues. “They should be treated the same way.”

Agra believes that with the successes of Filipino athletes in the last two Olympics, national leadership is seeing the overall value of sports. Besides, any new laws can be made retroactive if they benefit certain sectors of society. Most new laws punish certain sectors.

This writer has always believed in the Filipino athlete, regardless of their physical state. After all, isn’t the foundation of sport fair play?