Senate OKs bill granting benefits to top Pinoy athletes

The Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill granting benefits to professional Filipino athletes with world championship titles. Senate Bill 3322 seeks to grant retirement, health care, and death benefits to professional athletes who win championship titles in international professional sports competitions or in other equally prestigious international games.   “Many professional athletes have risked their health and sometimes their very lives for the nation. Their achievements have put the Philippines on the map. But our memories are short,” Senator Koko Pimentel, sponsor of SB 3322, said in a statement Monday. The senator specifically cited the situation of boxing champions Rolando Navarette and Luisito Espinosa. He said Navarette "lives in abject poverty" while Espinosa works in a casino in California due to managerial missteps and promotional disputes.   “Something must be done to make concrete our country’s appreciation for the honor that our Filipino champion athletes have brought to the country,” Pimentel said.   He said the bill “seeks to provide more than lip service to professional athletes who have dedicated their careers to the nation and who have brought prestige to our country.” Under the measure, athletes who reach 50 years old shall be entitled to retirement benefits. Professional athletes who win international titles in individual events shall be granted a lifetime monthly pension of P15,000 while those in team events shall receive P10,000.   Aside from this, qualified athletes shall be covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) through a special program sponsored by the Games and Amusement Board. Under the bill, the athleates shall be deemed honorary members of the program when they reach the retirement age of 50. If the athlete is hospitalized and the bill exceeds the PhilHealth coverage, the excess shall be shouldered by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) under its Individual Medical Assistance Program. On the other hand, if an athlete dies, his or her beneficiaries shall be granted P30,000 to cover funeral services or other expenses.   To be enacted, both houses of Congress must reconcile their versions of the bill, ratify it, and submit it to the president for signing. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News