A jogger runs past a newly installed Olympic rings for celebrating the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Yokohama, Japan, June 30, 2021. (File photo from REUTERS)
MANILA, Philippines — House Deputy Speaker Eric Martinez has filed a bill seeking to “immortalize” Filipino Olympians and assure that they would be “taken care of” in the future.
The House Bill No. 10096 — or the proposed “Philippine Olympian Memorial Act” would cover over 400 Olympians of “the not so distant past,” Martinez said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
“Many of those who participated were able to reach the Olympics, [but] due recognition was not given,” Martinez, who represents the Second District of Valenzuela, said in a statement.
“Who could forget Lydia de Vega, Caloy Loyzaga, Mona Sulaiman?” he added.
Under the bill an “Olympian Museum” will be established, which aims to generate an income for the Association of Philippine Olympians, which would then take care of the hospitalization and medical needs of its members
Martinez issued the statement shortly after Olympic bronze medalist Leopoldo Serantes “died a quiet man,” as the lawmaker put in, in the hospital on Wednesday following his battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The bill also seeks to rename sports facilities and streets in honor of Filipino Olympians.
Martinez also stressed that Olympians who failed to clinch medals would be covered by the bill.
Meanwhile, he said that the passage of the proposed Hidilyn Diaz Act would bode well in awakening the interest of Filipinos in sports, particularly in the Olympics.
“Interest will be at an astronomical high among the youth when they see that there’s a chance: ‘We could dream and aim high because there are incentives like these,” Martinez said, partly in Filipino.
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