Miriam seeks retirement benefits for Pinoy champion athletes

By KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMA News

Published April 1, 2011 4:40pm

Filipino athletes who won world championship titles for the country will be entitled to benefits when they retire, if Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's bill is passed into law. Senate Bill 2741, authored by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, seeks to provide retirement, health care, and death benefits to professional Filipino athletes who won world championship titles in international professional sports competitions and similar prestigious sports competitions. Under the measure, eligible athletes who have reached the age of 50 shall receive:

for individual events/sports - a lifetime monthly pension of at least P15,000

for team events/sports - a lifetime monthly pension of at P10,00 for each team member. It said that Filipino athletes shall likewise be covered by the National Health Insurance Program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) immediately upon winning any international professional sports competitions. When the athlete is hospitalized, Santiago proposed that the the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) can shoulder the expenses that will not be covered by PhilHealth. SB 2741 also says that eligible athletes shall be entited to a lump sum death benefit of P30,000 to cover for his or her funeral expenses. The measure noted, however, that the retitrement benefits are still subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines upon the joint recommendation of the budget secretary and the chairman of the Games and Amusement Board. Funding for the program shall be sourced from the Annual General Appropriations Act, according to the bill. - VVP, GMA News

Tags: senate, sports, miriamsantiago