THE House committee on ways and means yesterday approved a bill seeking to exempt from all taxes, fees and charges the rewards, bonuses, and other forms of emoluments for national athletes and coaches who win international sports competitions.
The panel approved the substitute bill to House Bill No. 9891 or the “Hidilyn Diaz Act of 2021” which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act that was filed in honor of weightlifter Diaz’s gold medal victory in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The measure was authored by Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco, panel chair Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, Reps. Faustino Michael Carlos Dy III (Isabela), Precious Hipolito Castelo (Quezon City), Rodolfo M. Ordanes (PL, Senior Citizens), Rodante D. Marcoleta (PL, Sagip), Michael Romero (PL, 1-Pacman), Enrico Pineda (PL, 1-Pacman) and other members of the panel who were listed as co-authors.
Diaz ended the country’s 97-year gold medal drought by ruling the 55kg women’s weightlifting event in Tokyo. In all, the Philippines won four medals, its strongest Olympic performance yet.
Salceda said the panel has some issues to reconcile with the committee on youth and sports on whether local sports competition prizes should also be made tax-free, a topic that he plans to be discussed on the House floor where it is also expected to be approved swiftly as a measure principally sponsored by Velasco.
Salceda said that “while the tax exemptions are one thing, public investment is the greater need, and we need to continue working on that.
“Support has to be end-to-end. The tax exemption on prizes is very important and timely, but if we want to keep winning, we have to invest in our athletes when they are still preparing to win,” he said.
Salceda noted that under previous administrations, the Philippine Olympic Committee only had a budget of P230 to P260 million during Olympic years, an amount that was increased to P944 million for this year or almost four times.
“Investment really makes a difference. I hope we can invest in training, facilities, nutrition, and conditioning,” Salceda said. “You’ll notice that most of our Olympics medalists were from the regions. So, you probably need sports academies in our regions as well, so we can deepen our bench of eventual national athletes.”
