A video uploaded on YouTube and Facebook (FB) claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was the first to award cash incentives to national athletes who won international competitions. This is false. A law signed in 2001 guarantees monetary rewards for Filipino medalists in select sporting events.
Posted on Aug. 9, the 28-minute YouTube video carried this erroneous headline:
“OMG HISTORICAL ITO! NGAYON LANG ITO NANGYARI PBBM REWARD CASH CHEQUE PARA SA MGA ATLETANG PILIPINO (Oh my God! This is historical. This happened only now. President Bongbong Marcos reward cash [and] cheque to Filipino athletes).”
Its thumbnail also contained this incorrect text:
“PBBM REWARD PARA SA MGA ATLETANG PILIPINO HETO NA! NAGULAT ANG LAHAT NGAYON LANG ITO NANGYARI GRABE BUMAHA NG CASH CHEQUE SA MALAKANYANG PUMILA ANG LAHAT. (PBBM’s reward for Filipino athletes is here! Everyone was shocked, this happened only now. Amazing, cash [and] cheque flooded Malacañang. Everybody lined up.)”
The video was uploaded on the same day Marcos led the awarding ceremony for medalists in the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and 19th ASEAN Para Games in Cambodia. It was not the first time the government gave cash incentives to winning athletes.
Under Republic Act 9064 signed in 2001, “national athletes who win gold, silver and bronze medals in international competitions shall be entitled to cash awards.” This includes winners in the biennial SEA Games.
In 2015, the amount of cash rewards was increased following the passage of Republic Act 10699. The new law also provided monetary incentives for paralympic medalists, including those competing in the ASEAN Para Games.
Prior to these legislations, former president Fidel Ramos issued Administrative Order 352 in 1997 which provided a one-time gratuity award and monthly cash allowance to all living bemedalled athletes who won in the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games and other “sports events with at least a continental impact.”
Meanwhile, records from the Presidential Communications Office website show former president Rodrigo Duterte awarding incentives to athletes in different years, including Hidilyn Diaz who won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in 2021.
Uploaded by verified YouTube channel PweDelieTV (created April 12, 2015) with 462,000 subscribers, the video has received 20,000 views. FB page SALOMO21 (created March 30, 2021) repeated the claim in a video uploaded the same day.
It bore the erroneous headline: “Ngayon Lang ito nangyari PBBM binigyan Parangal ang mga Atletang pilipino (This is the first time it happened. PBBM awarded Filipino athletes).” The FB clip garnered 4,400 views, 491 interactions, 21 comments and 71 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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