POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino announced the creation of the fund to bolster its support for Filipino medalists after giving out incentives to Filipino medalists in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

While the financial incentives for the feat of the Filipino athletes in Vietnam SEAG-bid totaled P11 million—P5.82 million for gold medalists, P3.2 million for silver medalists, and P1.97 million for bronze medalists.

Accordingly, the POC will utilize the remaining P2 million from a total of P13 million in seed money from its key supporters—Manuel V. Pangilinan’s MVP Sports Foundation, Ramon S. Ang’s San Miguel Corp., and Charlie Gonzales’ Ulticon Builders Inc.—as seed money.

Tolentino added that establishing the trust fund for the Filipino medalists adds to the milestone of POC for the same “has never done before” with the aim of motivating and inspiring athletes when they compete abroad.

“All donations from private corporations will automatically go to that incentive trust fund for athletes,” Tolentino said.

POC secretaries-general Atty. Edwin Gastanes, Bones Floro, Carl Sambrano, auditor Chito Loyzaga and board members Dave Carter and Charlie Ho, as well as Athletes Commission’s Nikko Huelgas attended the meeting with treasurer Cynthia Carrion-Norton, first vice presidents Al Panlilio and Richard Gomez and board members Pearl Managuelod and Dr. Raul Canlas joining online.