A BILL filed in the House of Representatives seeks to memorialize the accomplishment of Filipino athletes who have represented the country in the Olympic Games.
Filed on Aug. 26, House Bill 10096, or the Philippine Olympian Memorial Act, looks to establish an Olympian Museum at the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac, which would be the official public venue for all Olympian records and other memorabilia.
Filipino Olympians will also be immortalized through inclusion of stories and sacrifices of Olympic medalists in the basic education curriculum, issuance of commemorative postage stamps and coins that are considered legal tender, and renaming of roads within a city, municipality, or barangay where the athlete was born, among others.
It will also rename various facilities in New Clark City Sports Complex and the Philippine Institute of Sports Football and Athletics Stadium in Pasig City after Teófilo E. Yldefonso, Simeon G. Toribio, and Miguel S. White who won medals in the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Summer Olympic Games, respectively.
The measure came after the historic run of the Philippine delegation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which included the country’s first gold medal from weightlifter Hidilyn F. Diaz in the 55-kilogram category.
“It is therefore timely and fitting that we establish a Philippine Olympian Memorial that will provide a permanent and fitting commemoration for the blood, sweat, and tears, our national athletes have shed to represent the Philippines in the Olympics,” said Valenzuela City Rep. Eric M. Martinez, one of the authors of the bill.
The House of Representatives has already adopted resolutions to confer the Congressional Medal of Excellence for Ms. Diaz and the Congressional Medal of Distinction to boxers Nesthy A. Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Felix D. Marcial. — Russell Louis C. Ku