MANILA, Philippines – Carlos Yulo will rake in nearly P1.7 million in cash incentives following his remarkable run in the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam that saw him end up as the Philippines’ most bemedaled athlete.

The star gymnast topped the all-around, vault, floor exercise, horizontal bar, and still rings to clinch five golds on top of two silvers as he became the most bemedaled Filipino for the second straight SEA Games.

Under Republic Act 10699, individual gold winners in the SEA Games will receive P300,000, while silver and bronze medalists will get P100,000 and P60,000, respectively.

That means Yulo will collect P1.5 million for his gold medals alone.

He will earn a total of P1,687,500 as he also gains P150,000 for his silver in the parallel bars and P37,500 for his silver in the team all-around, which he won with five other Filipino gymnasts.

The law states that for teams with at least five members, each athlete will receive 25% of the cash incentives for individual medal winners.

Another Filipino gymnast made a splash in Vietnam as Aleah Finnegan is set to bag P675,000 for claiming two golds and two silvers in her SEA Games debut.

The Filipina-American nailed golds in team all-around and vault to go with silvers in individual all-around and balance beam.

Other big winners include cue artist Rubilen Amit and triathlete Kim Mangrobang, who will both pocket P600,000 for winning two golds apiece.

Amit ruled the women’s nine-ball and 10-ball events, while Mangrobang swept the golds in women’s triathlon and duathlon.

Joining Amit in the top earners list are her fellow pool stars Carlo Biado and Johann Chua, who will get P450,000 each.

Biado grabbed gold in the men’s 10-ball and silver in the nine-ball, while Chua captured gold in the men’s nine-ball and silver in the 10-ball after the two faced each other in the finals of both events.

Dancesport and real-life partners Sean Aranar and Ana Nualla will also bag P450,000 each for delivering three golds as teams with less than five members will divide the cash incentives for individual medalists equally.

The engaged couple defended their crowns in Viennese waltz, tango, and five dance.

Ending the Philippines’ decades-long gold drought in women’s swimming, Chloe Isleta will receive P487,500 for winning a gold and a pair of silvers.

Isleta topped the 200m backstroke and secured runner-up finishes in 100m backstroke and 4x100m medley relay.

Additional cash incentives await pole vaulter EJ Obiena and weightlifter Vanessa Sarno on top of the P300,000 they will earn for their golds as they both set new SEA Games records.

Obiena broke his previous SEA Games mark by a centimeter with a clearance of 5.46m.

Sarno, meanwhile, shattered all three SEA Games records in the women’s 71kg after lifting 104kg in snatch and 135kg in clean and jerk for a total of 239kg.

Except for its SEA Games hosting in 2005 and 2019, the Philippines breached the 50-gold plateau for the first time since 1993 with 52 golds to go with 70 silvers and 104 bronzes to finish fourth overall. – Rappler.com