Malacañang Golf (MALAGO) Clubhouse, Malacañang Park, Manila
August 9, 2021

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte praised the success of the Philippine Boxing Team who competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as they arrived in the country.

The Boxing Team, composed of Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno, brought home three (3) medals in different weight divisions.

Paalam and Petecio both finished with Silver medals at the men’s flyweight and women’s featherweight divisions, while Marcial secured the Bronze medal at the men’s middleweight division. This is the first time that the Philippines garnered its most number of medals since participating in the Olympics.

During their video teleconferencing, President Duterte announced that the Silver and Bronze medalists shall receive cash incentives of PhP2 million and PhP1 million respectively from the Office of the President. Likewise, the rest of the Filipino Olympians shall receive PhP200,000.

On top of that, the medalists will be conferred with the Order of Lapu-Lapu award while the rest of the athletes will be given a Presidential citation.

“It is not an everyday occurrence that we receive such an honor from our citizens of the Republic of the Philippines. You went to Tokyo to fight and I, well, say that you did your best and the Filipino people appreciates it, especially bringing honor to the country,” President Duterte said.

All in all, the Philippines secured four (4) Olympic medals, with Hidilyn Diaz giving the country its first-ever Gold at the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting category.

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