Marcos, Duterte-Carpio lead grand heroes’ welcome for Asiad medalists

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio will personally congratulate and hand over the incentives to the Filipino athletes who brought home medals from the Hangzhou Asian Games early this month.

The country’s two highest officials were scheduled to grace the grand heroes’ welcome dubbed “Gabi ng Parangal at Pasasalamat Para sa Bayaning Atletang Pilipino” at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.

The country raked in four gold medals including the one that mattered most — the men’s basketball mint — two silver and 12 bronze medals.

EJ Obiena of pole vault and Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez of jiu-jitsu were the other gold winners, all of them stand to receive P2 million as mandated by law.

Silver winners Eumir Marcial of boxing and Arnel Mandal of wushu and bronze medalists 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 will also be honored and receive cash bonuses.

The silver medalists will get P1 million while a bronze is worth P400,000.

The Philippine Olympic Committee promised an extra P1 million for gold.

And there’s a chance the Chief Executive would double it the same way he did when he met with medal winners from last May’s Phnom Penh Southeast Asian Games.

Also in the list of attendees were SBP Chairman Emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, San Miguel CEO and President Ramon S. Ang, SBP President Al Panlilio, PBA Chair Ricky Vargas, and Commissioner Willie Marcial, PSC Chair Richard Bachmann, POC Chief Abraham Tolentino and San Miguel sports director and Gilas manager Alfrancis Chua.