by Jocelyn P. Alvarez
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Jan. 11 (PIA 9) - - 18 athletes who gave pride and honor to the city and harvested medals during the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Indonesia, Nov.11-22 received cash “gifts” from the city government.
Vic Larato of the City Information Office said Mayor Celso Lobregat recently handed over the cash incentives totaling to P1, 425,000.00 to the athletes during a simple ceremony held at the City Hall Conference room.
Larato said the granting of cash incentives to the said athletes is embodied in a city ordinance aimed at encouraging the youth to engage in sports and bring honor for the city.
“Under the ordinance for international sporting events, a gold medal is equivalent to a cash incentive of P150, 000, silver is P100, 000 and bronze is P75,000, of which 30% will go to the coach,” Larato explained.
In the Case of group events, the incentive will be divided among the number of participating players.
The 18 athletes won in various sports category to include: billiards (8 & 9 balls) –gold medals; baseball-gold medals; basketball-gold medal; soft ball-gold medals; wrestling-gold medal; weightlifting-silver medal; wrestling-silver medal; judo-bronze medal; tenung Derajat-bronze and wrestling-bronze.
The 18 Zamboangueño athletes formed part of the Philippine Team that participated in the recently concluded SEA Games. (JPA /V. Larato/CIO/PIA - ZBST)
