JOSEPHINE MEDINA will come home to a P1 million reward for the bronze medal she earned in the women’s singles Class 8 of table tennis in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympics.
This was confirmed by Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, who filed a resolution commending Medina.
Angara said in a statement on Wednesday that Medina is entitled to a P1-million cash incentive under the new athletes incentives law, or Republic Act (RA) 10699.
“This is truly one of the noblest intentions of the law—to include our winning athletes with disabilities in the grant of cash awards from the government,” Angara, author and sponsor of RA 10699, said. “The term ‘national athletes’ should encompass all athletes, including those who are differently-abled as they undoubtedly deserve bigger incentives and benefits.”
Medina, a polio victim, beat Germany’s Julianne Wolf in straight sets, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, in the bronze-medal match at the Riocentro Pavilion inside the Olympic Park in Rio on Tuesday. China’s Mao Jingdian retained the gold medal after beating Thu Kamkasomphu of France, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2.
The medal was the second for the Philippines from Rio after Hidilyn Diaz clinched silver in the Summer Olympics’ women’s 53-kg class of weightlifting in August.
Diaz won the country’s first Summer Games medal since Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco also bagged a silver in men’s boxing.
The 46-year-old Medina also ended the Philippines’s 16-year drought in the Paralympics. Powerlifter Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta clinched a bronze medal in the 2000 Sydney edition.
Prior to the enactment of RA 10699, successful differently abled athletes were granted only token incentives. Dumapong-Ancheta was given a cash reward of P500,000 for her feat—P200,000 from the Philippine Sports Commission and P300,000 from then-President Joseph Estrada.
Under the new law, Paralympics gold medalists will get P5 million each, the silver medalists P2.5 million each and the bronze medalists P1 million. Coaches stand to get incentives equivalent to half of the amount the winning athletes will receive.
“This is the first time our Filipino athletes won in both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games,” Angara said. “And they came at a perfect time when RA 10699 has been enacted.”
Medina lost to Mao, 3-11, 4-11, 6-11, in the preliminaries in Rio, but toppled Norway’s Aida Husic Dahlen, 11-5, 3-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-8. She again bowed to Kamkhasomphou of France in the semifinals, 5-11, 8-11, 9-11, to settle for the bronze-medal match where she beat Wolf in only 25 minutes.