House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means Chair, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, on Monday approved a substitute bill providing tax exemptions for donations to national athletes competing in international sports competitions.
House Bill 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 said the measure should also be named in honor of Carlos Yulo, the country’s first Olympian to score two consecutive gold medals.
Another author of the bill, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, said the bill’s passage at the committee level and its imminent enactment into law soon was “in recognition of the pride and honor that these super athletes bestow upon our country and our people in establishing themselves to be among the world’s best in sports.”
Villafuerte is the author of HB 8226, one of the six bills incorporated into the committee-passed substitute bill.
He also congratulated Yulo for becoming the first Filipino male athlete to become a gold medalist—and even twice over—in the topmost international sporting events in the world after emerging No. 1 over the weekend in both the men’s floor exercise final and vault apparatus final in gymnastics in the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics.
“If we sharpen our focus on sports disciplines like gymnastics and hire A-1 coaches and trainers from overseas to mentor our promising athletes, I am sure we will be able to produce more medalists like Caloy in international sports events like the Olympic games,” Villafuerte said.
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