MANILA, Philippines – Olympian Hidilyn Diaz and world women’s boxing champion Nesthy Petecio are the newest additions to the second Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Athletes’ Commission.

Diaz, who was not initially elected to the 5 slots in the commission, and Petecio were added to the commission to meet the membership requirements of having two Olympians and gender balance within the group. 

The 2016 Rio Olympic silver medalist will join two-time Olympic swimmer Jessie Lacuna in representing the athletes  during the monthly POC general assemblies.

As former Blu Girl Cheska Altomonte was the lone female athlete elected to the commission, the group decided to add Petecio as the seventh member to address the gender balance requirement of the Terms of Reference, which was amended on Thursday, February 13. 

The other 3 members of the commission are national triathlete Nikko Huelgas, former national rugby player Jake Letts and national taekwondo jin Samuel Morrison. 

Both Diaz and Petecio are aiming for berths to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics which is slated to run from July 24 to August 9. 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires each national Olympic committee to establish an athletes’ commission in order to bridge the problems of national athletes to the IOC. – Rappler.com