House to confer ‘medal of distinction’ on Filipino boxers who bagged Olympic medals

Plenary Hall of the House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is eyeing to confer the Congressional Medal of Distinction on the three Filipino boxers who bagged medals for the Philippines in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano have filed House Resolution No. 2093 which seeks to congratulate, commend, and confer the Congressional Medal of Distinction to boxer Nesthy Petecio for bringing home the first ever Olympic silver medal for the Philippines in women’s boxing.

The lawmakers said a similar resolution will be filed for boxers Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial who bagged silver and bronze medals in men’s boxing.

“Winning a medal at the Olympics was no easy feat as our boxers had to compete against the best athletes in the world,” Velasco said in a statement.

“Nesthy, Carlo and Eumir are considered as our national heroes in sports,” he added.

The Congressional Medal of Distinction is given to Filipino achievers in sports, business, medicine, science, and other fields. It was the same award given by Congress to weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz five years ago when she won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The House leaders earlier filed two separate resolutions pushing for the institutionalization of the Congressional Medal of Excellence for national athletes who will win gold medals at the Olympic games and granting such award to weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.

Diaz, in her fourth straight Olympics, delivered the Philippines’ breakthrough gold medal after conquering the women’s 55 kilograms weightlifting competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

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JPV