OLYMPIC champion Hidilyn Diaz returned to the country yesterday but there was no marching band, no adoring crowd, no welcome banners, no hero’s welcome, due to the pandemic. Instead, she was immediately whisked to a hotel for a mandatory seven-day quarantine.
A semblance of a welcome was provided by Air Force personnel who lined the route where the vehicle taking Diaz and her team passed by, waving miniature Philippine flags.
Earlier in the day, Diaz, an Air Force sergeant, was promoted to the next higher rank of staff sergeant.
Before boarding a Philippine Airlines flight from Tokyo, Diaz, 30, said she is raring to return home after her breakthrough victory last Monday and “excited to show her medal to fellow Pinoys.”
She was expected to make a virtual call on President Duterte Wednesday night.
Diaz and her team arrived with the team of skateboarder Margielyn Didal, who finished seventh in the street skate event that made its debut in the Olympics.
She is set to receive a bonanza that amounts to millions but perhaps Diaz’s greatest reward is an apology from Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo over her inclusion in a matrix of an alleged oust Duterte plot that was released by the administration in 2019. But Panelo did not apologize for the release of the report.
“I’m sorry, I’m sad to know na nasaktan si Hidilyn. I’m sorry for that. Kawawa naman (I’m sorry, I’m sad to know that Hidilyn was hurt. I’m sorry for that),” he said.
As her prize for ending the country’s 97-year gold medal drought in the Olympics, Diaz stands to receive P40.5 million in incentives — P10 million from the Philippine Sports Commission plus the Olympic Medal of Valor under Republic Act 10699, P10 million apiece from the MVP Sports Foundation and San Miguel Corp., P5 million from businessman Dennis Uy, P3 million from sportsman-businessman Mikee Romero and P2.5 million from the Zamboanga City government.
Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino has also pledged to award Diaz a house and lot in Tagaytay. Megaworld, the property company of real estate tycoon Andrew Tan, also announced that Diaz will be rewarded with a “P14 million condominium unit” in its upscale township of Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City. She also stands to receive free fuel for life from Phoenix, house and lot worth P4 million from Century Properties, and lifetime free flights from Air Asia and Philippine Airlines.