Meeting President Rodrigo Duterte will be one of the more memorable moments for Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal.
Tabal and other medal-winning athletes in the recent Southeast Asian Games met the President on Wednesday at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañang Palace to receive their incentives from the government.
The 28-year-old Tabal ruled women’s marathon in the biennial games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was the first gold medalist for the Philippines in this year’s meet.
Tabal said it was the first time for her to meet the president, who is also a bisaya.
“We were very excited to see the President,” Tabal said.
Though Duterte arrived late, Tabal said she couldn’t express how happy she was when she saw the President in person.
“We were so amazed when he came in. It was so exciting,” Tabal added.
According to Tabal, Duterte talked to her in bisaya. “He told me ‘basta bisaya, gahi jud.'”‘
She also shared that she was able to shake the hand of the former Davao City mayor twice.
Because of the late arrival of the President, Tabal, together with her coach John Philip Duenas and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Ramon Fernandez, missed their flight back to Cebu on Wednesday evening and had to spend another night in Manila.
But Tabal said the wait was worth it. They were expected to return to Cebu Thursday morning.
The gold medalists received P300,000, silver winners got P150,000 while bronze medalists took home P60,000.
Presidential Adviser for Sports Dennis Uy also gave an additional P50,000 for the gold medalists, P30,000 for the silver medalists and P10,000 for the bronze medalists.
In all, Tabal received P350,000.
The incentives for the medal-winning athletes and the coaches were based on Republic Act 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act.
The Philippines bagged a total of 121 medals, 24 of them were gold, and finished sixth overall in the 11-country regional sporting meet.