BY NICK GIONGCO
The financial request the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) submitted to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for licensed fighters and trainers of boxing, Muay Thai and mix martial arts, have been “approved in principle.”
GAB chairman Baham Mitra said on Friday night that the office of DSWD under secretary Aimee Neri called him up to relay the positive news that all 1,133 licensees would receive cash from the government owing to the pandemic.
The government is releasing P270-billion for low-income earners and Mitra said in a letter to the DSWD that the boxers, Muay Thai and MMA practitioners fall under this category.
The DSWD has also forwarded to the GAB a bar code that will formalizes the approval of financial help not only to the fighters but to their trainers and seconds as well.
The amount that will be given would depend on the region where a licensee got his. The government says the assistance will range from a minimum of P5,000 to a high of P8,000.
Those from Metro Manila will receive P8,000 while those who reside in a region with low standard of living will get P5,000.
The good news is sure to pump up the morale not only of the fighters but of their managers, too.
The lack of activity has been financially difficult for their handlers to fund them and it could not yet be determined until when the
lockdown and work stoppage will persist.
Manila-based oxing managers Joven Jimenez and Art Monis and Brix Flores of Cebu and top trainer Edito Villamor had earlier welcomed the GAB’s move to lend a hand.Mitra said the DSWD will task the GAB to handle the registration of the recipients.
“We are just doing minor revisions then we will receive the forms that will be filled up by our boxers and other licensees,” added Mitra.