Our national athletes who recently participated in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, led by double-gold medalist Carlos Yulo, were warmly welcomed by the Filipinos through a Heroes Parade held last 14 August in Manila.

Since Yulo’s historic win, local and international news highlighted the incentives that he and his coach will receive for bringing pride and honor to our country. But what is the legal basis of these incentives? What are the benefits that may be given to our national athletes, coaches?

In 2015, the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act (Republic Act 10699) was enacted. Under Section 4 thereof, the registered national athletes and coaches are entitled to the following benefits and privileges:

a. 20 percent discount from all establishments relative to the utilization of transportation services, hotels and other lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers and purchase of medicine and sports equipment;

b. Minimum of 20 percent discount on admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, and other similar places of culture and leisure;

c. Free medical and dental consultations in government hospitals and similar establishments;

d. Coverage in the National Health Insurance Program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation;

e. A comprehensive social security program formulated by the Social Security System; f. Priority in existing livelihood programs, national housing programs, and other housing opportunities of various government agencies;

h. Use of living quarters and training centers set up and maintained by the PSC for the exclusive use of national athletes while preparing and training for international competitions.

Section 8 of the same law also provides for cash incentive, to be taken from the net cash income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, that awaits a national athlete who wins gold, silver and bronze medals in international sports competitions that do not grant prize money.

The amount varies depending on the category of the competition which may be (i) regular major competitions such as Olympic Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Youth Olympic Games, and Paralympic Games; (ii) world-level championships; (iii) Asian-level competitions; and (iv) qualifying competitions for world-level games.

For instance, in individual events such as gymnastics, the incentive is P10,000,000 (gold), P5,000,000 (silver), or P2,000,000 (bronze) for Olympic Games; (ii) P5,000,000, P2,500,000, or P1,000,000 for Youth Olympic Games and Paralympic Games; (iii) P2,000,000, P1,000,000, or P400,000 for Asian Games; and (iv) P300,000, P150,000, or P60,000 for SEA Games.

In team events with less than five participants per team, the team shall receive the same cash incentives for individual medal winners to be divided equally among the members actually present during the competition. For competitions with five or more participants per team, each member shall receive 25 percent of the cash incentives for individual medal winners.

For the national coaches who have personally trained and rendered service to the athletes or teams who win in international competitions at least six months prior to the competition, they are entitled to 50 percent of the cash incentives for gold, silver and bronze medalists. The law likewise provides for scholarship, retirement, and death benefits for the qualified national athletes and/or coaches.

Clearly, these legal provisions show that we are committed to promoting excellence in sports by looking after the welfare of national athletes and coaches competing for the country.

For more of Dean Nilo Divina’s legal tidbits, please visit www.divinalaw.com. For comments and questions, please send an email to cad@divinalaw.com.