National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentive Act:  RA 10699 

By Romuel Alarcon

It has been the dream of all athletes and coaches to have some kind of incentive to be given to them so they can help their families.  I understand very well that these athletes together with their national coaches are not putting entirely all their effort just because of the money that will be receiving because of the law. First and foremost, the reason is the love for their beloved country. Financial incentive is just secondary.  

In 2015, RA 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentive Act was approved. During the approval of the financial incentive given to the athletes as well as the national coaches, there was a great jubilation among all our athletes and coaches. Ever since then, athletes and coaches have harvested the fruits of their laborious effort. 

Under the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentive Act, all athletes going to the Olympiad and winning Gold will recieve 10M pesos, Silver 5M pesos and Bronze 2.5M pesos. While in the Asian Games, Gold will recieve 2M pesos, Silver 500,000 pesos and Bronze will recieve 100,000 pesos. In the South East Asian Games, a Gold medal winner gets 300,000 pesos, Silver gets 150,000 pesos and Bronze gets 60,000 pesos. Coaches get appropriate proportion to the athletes’ winnings. 

At a glance, this is great financial incentives to both the National Athletes and their National Coaches. In the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentive Act, the author of this law forgets to include the high-octane World Championship category, where competition is very keen. One important event that should have been considered under RA 10699, is the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Winning a slot in the Olympics via World Qualifying Tournament is like passing through the eye of the needle. Those who qualified in the Olympics does not mean that they will win a medal. So, a 50,000 reward for an Olympic qualifier is a beautiful incentive. When it comes to World Championship category, 75,000 for the champion, 50,000 for the runner up and 25,000 for the 3^rd placer is good enough. The Philippine Sports Commission should evaluate the World Championship in which incentives could be applied.  If the RA 10699 can give ample incentive to SEA Games which is just a regional game, why not on a quality world championship tournament?  

Since a lot of our National Athletes and Coaches have not tasted the benefits of RA 10699, because they have already retired before the implementation of the law, why not the Philippine Sports Commission write a petition to our honorable senators and congressman to make a law granting a certain amount of money to all living national athletes and coaches who were not able to exploit the fruit of RA 10699, because it is not retroactive.  A onetime gift of 50,000 to all retired national athletes and 25,000 to all national coaches who are still part of the vibrant sports community. 

Another innovation in the Philippine Sports Commission is to have a National Identification Card to all National Athletes and National Coaches so they can avail of the 20% discount on transportation (Air, Land and Sea), Restaurants, Hotel Accommodation, and buying sports equipment given under RA 10699.