Palace courtesy call set for SEA Games medalists

MANILA, Philippines – For making the country proud in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, all 400 medalists will be honored by no less than President Duterte himself during a courtesy call set Tuesday night in Malacanang.

The date and place were set after a letter from the Philippine Sports Commission was circulated to the national sports associations (NSAs) concerned Thursday informing them of the news.

Allowed to grace the 6 p.m. ceremony are the 52 gold, 70 silver and 105 bronze medal winners, their coaches and one official per NSA.

And there is a chance that their incentives — totaling around P32.4 million — would be given by that time.

Based on law, a SEA Games gold is worth P300,000, a silver P150,000 and a bronze P60,000 apiece.

That is not counting the bonus the Chief Executive is expected to give the sporting heroes and heroines just like in the past.

Sen. Bong Go, in fact, had asked and already received the names of all the medalists from the PSC.

The country finished fourth overall in Hanoi, its best finish in the biennial meet outside of the Philippines since winding up second overall in the 1983 Singapore edition.

It’s the least the country can do to the Filipino athletes for a job well done.