August 14th, 2024
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) says that the House in plenary has approved a bill today providing tax exemptions for donations to national athletes competing in international sports competitions.
House Bill No. 421, authored by Salceda, was also filed and approved in the 18th Congress as the “Hidilyn Diaz Law” but failed to gain approval in the Senate. Salceda says the measure should also be named in honor of Carlos Yulo, the country’s first Olympian to score two consecutive gold medals.
In his sponsorship remarks on the measure, Salceda emphasized that “A 12-year-old Carlos Yulo once gave an interview where he said that his dream was to win a gold medal for the Philippines in the Olympics. It took him more than a decade to reach that goal in the grandest manner possible.”
“What that teaches us is that the prize is never won on the day of the competition itself, but years before. Hard work, determination, and sheer grit through many years of training wins over talent.”
“House Bill No. 421, which we called the Hidilyn Diaz Act last Congress, and which should not also honor Caloy Yulo, exempts not just the prizes that are handed out by brands and companies after the win. Its most important provision is that it exempts donations towards their training one year before the competition.”
“It follows the philosophy I have espoused as Governor of Albay: rescue is a bad word, because there is no need for rescue when all preparations have been made. Capacity is everything. The approach is to incentivize not the prize, but the preparation. Champions are not made overnight.”
The committee also approved making the exemption retroactive to January 1, 2024. Apart from exempting donations one year prior to the date of competition, Salceda also proposed that donations through the Philippine Sports Commission or the Philippine Olympic Committee be made exempt from donations regardless of time.
“In fact, I would like to forward to you an additional proposal: that we not just exempt donations towards their training for one year, but to exempt donations from tax for their entire training, provided that such donations are made through the Philippine Olympic Committee or the Philippine Sports Commission.”
“At the proper time, that can be introduced in the plenary. But let me emphasize this once again: it is mere tokenism, it is mere public relations, to ride the bandwagon when the victory has already been achieved. What we need to incentivize is the investments being made on the athletes who are still working on winning medals for the country.”