THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading House Bill 9990 or the proposed Hidilyn Diaz Law, which would exempt bonuses and donations to athletes from all taxes and fees, including donor's taxes and income taxes.

Voting through viva voce, lawmakers approved HB 9990, which would amend Republic Act No. 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act.

The bill is expected to be approved on third and final reading next week.

Under the measure, rewards, bonuses and other forms of emoluments for national athletes and coaches who compete in international sports competitions will be exempted from all taxes and other fees.

The bill was filed in light of weightlifter Diaz's historic gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.

"We hope to close this room for interpretation by clarifying that all 'rewards, bonuses and other emoluments' for national athletes and coaches shall be exempt from any and all taxes," House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, sponsor of the bill, said.

"The bill also makes the tax exemption executory even if the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] does not issue rules and regulations. It also specifically indicates that it does not repeal other tax privileges of national athletes and coaches," Salceda added.

The lawmaker also explained that state investment yielded the country's best performance in the Olympics.

"A country honors its beliefs when it puts its money where its mouth is. For decades, we have professed to believe in the power of sports in nation-building. We have taken pride in the accomplishments of Filipino athletes—even the athletes who are Filipinos by blood and not by nationality," Salceda said.

"Only under this government did we truly invest enough to give our Olympic athletes a fighting chance. I am proud to say that, under the leadership of President Duterte, the Philippine Sports Commission [PSC] got the highest-ever Olympic year budget, at P945 million," he added.

In 2021, he said Congress allotted P1.3 billion to the PSC, the highest-ever share of the national budget the committee received, at 0.03 percent.

"Clearly, investment corresponds with accomplishment. Our 2020 Olympic performance is our best ever finish. We have broken many records for our country, including our first non-exhibition gold medal, and our first multiple medal finish in eight decades. The historic accomplishment of Hidilyn Diaz, a staff sergeant of the Philippine Air Force, in breaking the record for her own event and getting us a gold medal is the feat for which we named the measure I am sponsoring today. But we also recognize the historic achievements of our other medalists this year: Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam," Salceda said.

Image courtesy of AP

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