TAGAYTAY CITY — A hefty reward of P500,000 will be given to the new members of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio said the increase of prize from the initial P200,000 to P500,000 was already approved and will be handed to the seven new members of the Hall of Fame that will be formally enshrined on 20 May.

“Yes, as approved by the PSC board, the new incentive for the winners will now be at P500,000 per Hall of Famer. Back then it was P100,000-P200,000,” Gregorio said during a press conference last Wednesday here at the Tagaytay CT Velodrome.

“But you know, you’re a Hall of Famer, you deserve not just the honor, but of course the recognition and the reward.”

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol Tolentino said choosing the seven new members of the elite group is a thorough process as they have to scan and deliberate all the achievements of the initial 75 candidates.

“These seven came from the initial list of 75 that was trimmed down to 15 before the final screening committee identified the final seven,” said Tolentino, a member of the seven-man Hall of Fame committee.

Although Gregorio said there were worthy candidates to add into the Hall of Fame, some of them were omitted as they are still actively competing.

“Even if you are deserving already but you are still competing, you are still not eligible because that is what is written on the law,” Gregorio said, citing a provision in the Republic Act (RA) 98757.

A lot of Filipino greats have been enshrined since the RA 98757 was established in 1999.

Icons such as Carlos Loyzaga and Robert Jaworski of basketball, Pancho Villa and Gabriel “Flash” Elorde of boxing, swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, chess grandmaster Eugene Torre, and bowling legends Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Coo were feted for their contributions to the country.