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AFTER carrying the country’s Olympic campaign and later the Philippine flag with boxer Aira Villegas at the closing ceremony of the Paris Games on Sunday, it is time for the entire country and its 115 million people to hail Carlos Yulo when he arrives on Tuesday returns home.
Mr. Yulo, along with his two glittering gold medals in floor exercise and vault that he captured in the French capital, will arrive at 4:30 PM on Tuesday accompanied by his group of supporters, including the head of the Gymnastic Association of the Philippines. Cynthia Carrion.
Also on that chartered flight are boxers Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio, who were responsible for the country’s other two medals with a bronze medal each.
From the airport where he will be received by a welcoming committee of the Philippine Sports Commission, Mr. Yulo, together with the other Olympians, will proceed to the Villamor Airbase where their respective families await.
They will then head straight to Malacañang where none other than President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will receive Mr. Yulo and personally ask him what needs to be done to produce more Philippine Olympic gold winners like him.
The Chief Executive is expected to also distribute the €20 million (€10 million per Olympic gold) incentives through the Expanded Athletes Incentives Act, as in the past.
Mr. Marcos may even throw in a bonus, as he previously did with Philippine gold winners at the Southeast Asia and Asian Games.
That’s not to mention the bounty Mr Yulo is expected to receive: €20 million from the government through the Expanded Athletes Incentives Act, €6 million from the House of Representatives, €5 million from ArenaPlus, €3 million from Bounty Fresh and Chooks-to-Go. , P3 million from Megaworld, P2 million from the City of Manila and possibly more from the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation.
From the palace, Mr. Yulo travels back to the Hilton Manila on Newport Blvd. in Pasay fronting Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the evening for a victory party hosted by Megaworld’s Kevin Tan.
Mr. Tan will officially hand over the three-bedroom condominium worth P32 million in the posh McKinley Hill plus P3 million to Mr. Yulo at the same event.
It will also be at the Hilton where Mr. Yulo and the rest of the Olympians will stay overnight.
Then are the Tagaytay house and lot of Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham Tolentino, and an array of delights such as free travel for life from the Philippine Airlines, an eat-all-you-can voucher from Vikings and P1 million in Not including SM products, among others. that Mr. Yulo was promised from left and right.
The Philippine International Convention Center welcome event prepared by the PSC chaired by Richard Bachmann, who arrived from Paris yesterday, was rescheduled from Tuesday to Wednesday.
A parade will take place on the same day.
The City of Manila, through Mayor Honey Lacuna, will also honor its decorated son, who comes from the streets of Leveriza, in a grand parade scheduled a day or two after his arrival.
The column will start from Leveriza, where Mr. Yulo was born, grew up, and eventually was discovered as a gymnast, walking through the palace, the University Belt, before culminating in Manila City Hall, where the powerful citizen will get his due.
The heroes’ reception is expected to be as big, if not bigger, than that of Hidilyn Diaz, who delivered the country’s breakthrough Olympic coin at the Tokyo Games three years ago, and that of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
And that was because Mr. Yulo delivered the performance of his life in Paris.
He left the country dreaming the dream and will return home as a king, as he should. — Joey Villar