Senate honors PH Olympians; Yulo, Petecio, Villegas to get Medal of Excellence
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate honored the Philippine delegation to the Paris 2024 Olympics by passing a resolution recognizing all 22 athletes, with special honors for medalists Carlos Yulo, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas.
Sen. Francis Tolentino announced that Yulo, Villegas and Petecio are set to receive the Senate Medal of Excellence on Monday.
Team Philippines achieved the country's best performance in its 100-year Olympic history, securing two gold medals from Yulo and bronze medals from Petecio and Villegas.
The Philippines was also the best performing Southeast Asian country, ranking 37th among 207 participants.
Several senators filed similar resolutions to honor the athletes.
These measures were discussed in omnibus speeches by Sens. Raffy Tulfo, Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, Ramon Revilla, Bong Go, Pia Cayetano and Risa Hontiveros.
All the resolutions were approved, subject to style. All present senators were made co-sponsors of the resolutions, with no objections and interpolations for the measures.
“Hindi po dito magtatapos ang inyong pagkapanalo. Magpapatuloy ito sa pagsasaayos namin dito sa Senado ng mga programa sa ating mga atleta. Aasahan namin ang gabay ninyo upang mas mamamayagpag pa ang atletang Pilipino,” Tulfo said.
(This is not where your victory ends. We will continue to fix athlete programs here in the Senate. We hope for your guidance as more Filipino athletes take flight.)
Tulfo also mentioned that more attention would be given to grassroots athletes to nurture future talents.
“Congratulations to our golden boy, Carlos Yulo, and to our fearsome boxers, Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio. Carlos Yulo’s win in artistic gymastics, a sport typically considered as feminine, and Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas’ victories in boxing, a combat sport strongly associated with men, are proof that gender stereotypes have no place in sports,” Hontiveros said.
Villanueva said that the athletes have etched the Philippines into Olympic history and hoped they would inspire the youth.
Go, a known supporter of athletes, said that the Philippines has been improving its overall performance in different sporting events, citing Gilas Pilipinas’ victory over the World No. 6 Latvia in basketball.
Zubiri said that there could also be a separate resolution for fourth place finishers such as pole vaulter EJ Obiena and golfer Bianca Pagdanganan.
The Senate Session coincided with the Heroes’ Welcome Parade for the athletes in Manila.
Upon their arrival on Tuesday night, the athletes traveled to Malacañan Palace and met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the First Family.
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