The Filipino differently-abled athletes received on Wednesday recognition from the Senate for capping the country’s highest medal output in the 5th Southest Asian Para Games held from Aug. 15-19 in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.
Senator Pia Cayetano took the floor before the start of the Wednesday session to introduce some members of the Team Philippines which brought home 24 gold, 24 silver and 26 bronze medals to surpass the country’s 17-21-22 gold-silver-bronze finish two years ago in Thailand.
â€We would like to congratulate our para gamers that despite short training and short budget, they came home with a total of 74 medals including 24 golds,†Cayetano said in a media interview.
Cayetano promised to push for the passage of her own Senate Bill No. 1408 which allows the giving of equal incentives that abled athletes get to their differently-abled counterparts for winning medal in the big international competitions.
â€This bill gives equal benefits to disabled athletes and regular athletes and we want to make this bill retroactive so that our previous winners will also get the right incentives for them,†Cayetano said.
Under Republic Act 9064, otherwise known as Athletes and Coaches Incentives Act, an abled athlete receives P5,000,000 million for an Olympic gold, P1,000,000 million for Asian Games gold and P100,000 for Southeast Asian Games gold medal.
Cayetano personally expressed her admiration to the athletes by congratulating them one by one including Ernie Cawilan, an 18-year-old swimmer with no legs and no left hand but came home with three gold medals all in record-breaking fashion.
â€I admire their training and patience but more importantly, the symbolism they are making despite their disabilities. It is job to make sure that our environment would help them to be more productive,†the lady lawmaker said.
Last Tuesday, Senate committee on youth and sports chairman Lito Lapid filed Senate Resolution 1319 commending the RP contingent composed of 64 athletes for fifth place finish in the 11-nation sports fest for the athletes with mobility and visual disabilities, amputees, and with cerebral palsy.
â€By harvesting medals in this international sports meet, the Philippine contingent has made our country proud and has shown to the world the spirit of Filipino competitiveness and excellence,†Lapid said.
Athletics team is the top medal winner for the Team Philippines, winning eight golds followed by chess and swimming with seven golds each.
As expected, powerhouse Thailand won the overall title 148-67-46 gold-silver-bronze finish, followed by host Malaysia with 82-74-56, Vietnam (66-50-40), Indonesia (26-21-14), Singapore (13-5-3), Brunei Darussalam (9-5-8), Myanmar (8-12-4), Cambodia (1-2-4) and Laos (0-1-1). (PNA)
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Topic: Filipino Para Gamers (Read 712 times)