Friday, March 14, 2008 Lawmakers seek better athletes' incentives By Henry C. Villalva
TWO more bills in the House of Representatives seeking to provide better benefits for the country athletes have been filed by two Negrense solons- Jose Carlos Lacson (3rd district, Negros Occidental) and Monico O. Puentevella (lone district, Bacolod City).
HB 2265 and 2485, penned by Lacson and Puentevella, respectively, seek to amend Republic Act 9064, and seek to give equal incentives to differently abled athletes who snared medals in the Southeast Asian Para Games, the Asian Para Games and the Paralympics.
The bills by the two Negros solons come on the heels of recent moves in Congress to come up with a Magna Carta for sports, designed to benefit all active and retired national as well as professional athletes.
Rep. Roberto Puno (1st district, Antipolo) told sports reporters in Manila that they are currently evaluating five sports bills, including those authored by Lacson and Puentevella, intended to provide benefits to both amateur and professional athletes.
The former PBA marketing chief said Congress is in the process of making an inventory of these bills in the hope that they can come up with a unified version acceptable to all.
Congressional attention on the giving of benefits to athletes came up following the Philippine Sports Commission's agreement with the health care insurance company Philhealth which gives dental, medical and hospitalization benefits to RP team members- both able and differently abled- and their immediate families.
Puno said Congress wants to include former professionals, including boxers and basketball players to be part of the package of benefits to be granted.
Puentevella, a former PSC commissioner who is currently head of the weightlifting association, first vice-president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and chief of mission of the RP contingent to the Beijing Olympics in August, is known to be a staunch advocate of government benefits for national athletes particularly those coming from the provinces.
Meanwhile, there is another sports-related bill- HB 3319- which seeks to direct the PSC to establiosh and administer a program to support research into the possible use of performance-enhancing but not banned substances that would improve the chances of national athletes in international competitions.
