New law in time for Para Games

MANILA, Philippines - National Paralympic Committee of the Philippines president Mike Barredo said yesterday the newly passed Republic Act No. 10699, known as the “National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act,” will be the guide for rewarding the upcoming medalists at the 8th ASEAN Para Games in Singapore on Dec. 3-10 with 67 Filipino athletes competing in 10 of 15 sports.

President Aquino signed the consolidated version of Senate Bill No. 2898 and House of Representatives Bill No. 5912 into law last Friday. It was passed by the Senate and House last Sept. 21 as authenticated by Senate secretary Oscar Yabes and House secretary-general Marilyn Barua-Yap. If the Chief Executive hadn’t signed the consolidated version, it would’ve lapsed into law automatically under the 30-day rule on Monday unless vetoed by Malacañang.

Barredo called it a “landmark” law. “The passage showed the government’s commitment, through the President, to support our athletes striving for excellence,” he said. “It’s always motivational for our athletes to do better, to try harder with the promise of benefits and incentives. More so, our differently-abled athletes because it’s the first time they’ve been recognized as national athletes by law. Now, they’re officially recognized as belonging to the mainstream.”

Barredo said the plight of the differently-abled athletes has taken a positive turn. “At first, it was a health thing then it became a welfare issue for support and rehabilitation,” he said. “Now, it’s become a right for full participation in the political, social, economic, cultural and sporting aspects of life. This means equal opportunity for all. The new law recognizes the inherent right of differently-abled athletes to be treated like any other athlete. Finally, we’re over the hump. We hope this opens doors for differently-abled athletes to receive the support they deserve not only from government but also the private sector.”

Barredo said Filipino differently-abled athletes are lagging behind those from neighboring countries in terms of level of performance. “We’re not getting enough exposure to improve our quality of play,” he said. “It’s something we’re working on. We lack focus, funding, resources, training, local competitions and overseas exposure. We’ve got a training-the-trainors program in place, we’re doing talent identification across the country but with lack of funding, it hasn’t been easy to implement. For 10 seasons, we had a wheelchair basketball league supported by the PBA but it’s been dormant the last three years. We’re hoping the SBP can adopt wheelchair basketball as part of the Gilas program.”

The Philippines will be represented in athletics, powerlifting, swimming, table tennis, badminton, chess, 10-pin bowling, sailing, wheelchair basketball and archery at the coming ASEAN Para Games. There will be no Filipino participants in football 7-a-side, football 5-a-side, goalball, boccia and shooting. At the previous ASEAN Para Games last year, the Philippines collected 20 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze medals to finish sixth overall behind Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

“We would’ve liked to participate in all 15 sports in Singapore but our athletes are being evaluated on the basis of ability to win medals,” said Barredo. “We need exposure to be able to improve our chances for a podium finish. Without exposure, our chances are slim. In Singapore, we’re hoping to win gold medals in athletics, swimming, powerlifting, table tennis and chess. We were third in wheelchair basketball last year but we hope to do better. In sailing, we’ve got potential but Singapore is way ahead of us. In fact, Singapore even donated boats for us. In table tennis, Josephine Medina is ranked in the top five in the world and should be able to win a gold. Marites Burce and Prudencia Panaligan of athletics, Adeline Ancheta of powerlifting, Sander Severino and Henry Lopez of chess and Ernie Gawilan of swimming are some of our other gold medal prospects.”

Under the new law, a Filipino gold medalist at the ASEAN Para Games will receive a bonus of P150,000. A silver medalist will be given P75,000 and a bronze medalist, P30,000. “When I was with the PSC, we set aside P25,000 for a gold medalist, P15,000 for a silver medalist and P10,000 for a bronze medalist although it was not mandated by law,” said Barredo. “Now, our differently-abled athletes will be given their benefits and incentives by law. We’ve lobbied 12 years for this recognition. It’s been quite a struggle.”

Effectivity of the new law will kick in 15 days after the act is publicized in at least two newspapers of general circulation. If the publication is done immediately, the first beneficiaries will be the medalists at the coming ASEAN Para Games. Barredo said it is doubly significant that the initial beneficiaries will be differently-abled athletes.

Sen. Sonny Angara, who championed the bill in the Senate, said: “It’s high time we recognize our outstanding athletes with disabilities which is why we included them among the national athletes deserving of incentives should they win in international competitions. Likewise, we wanted to give justice to and recognize our winning national athletes by increasing the amount of prizes and benefits. Filipinos love sports so it is but proper for our government to amply recognize and reward achievement by our athletes. Winning medals and competitions at the international level is usually the result of years of hard training by both athletes and coaches and they fully deserve any reward under our new law. We thank the President and the legislators and the PSC for supporting and helping craft the new incentives scheme.”