Olympian Kayla Sanchez will receive a 1.2 million Philippine peso (approximately $20,000 USD) bonus for her performance at the recent Southeast Asian Games.
Sanchez, who was born in Singapore to Filipino parents and later emigrated to Canada, began formally represent the Philippines in late 2023. She had previously represented Canada at several international competitions, including the 2017 World Junior Championships, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2019 World Championships, 2020 Olympic Games, 2021 World Championships, and 2022 World Championships.
She won two Olympic medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021: silver in the 400 free relay and bronze at the 400 medley relay.
At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where she set a Philippines Record in the prelims of the 100 free (53.67) to qualify for the semi-finals.
The 2025 Southeast Asian Games were her biggest international medals since representing the Philippines. There, she won three gold medals and five silver medals, breaking three Philippines National Records in the process. The country’s win in the 400 free relay, along with Heather White, Chloe Isleta, and Xiandi Chua, marked the country’s first ever SEA Games gold medal in a swimming relay.
The SEA Games are a major regional competition where the countries of Southeast Asia battle for regional sporting dominance, which is viewed as an extension of political soft power.
Sanchez’s prize money under the Republic Act 10699, athletes are awarded significant prizes for success in international sporting competitions (including 10 million, around $170,000 USD, Philippines pesos for an Olympic gold medal). The Philippines has 18 Olympic medals in its history, including only 3 gold medals.
At the SEA Games, individual gold medals each earn P300,000 (around $5,100 USD), while the winning relay swimmers share P75,000 (around $1,275 USD) because there were less than five events.
She also receives P175,000 (Around $2,550 USD) for each individual silver, and shares more prize money for the silver medal winning relay she was part of.
In addition, the act also affords national team athletes and coaches discounts on travel and transportation services, entertainment services like theatres, cinemas, concerts, and carnivals, free medical and dental care, insurance, social security benefits, and priority placement in national job and housing placement programs.
While Sanchez is back living and training in Canada with the UBC Thunderbirds, her 1.2 million peso haul is roughly 3.5 times the median annual household income in the Philippines.
The Philippines won 50 gold medals at the 2025 SEA Games across all sports, which was 6th-most among 11 participating nations. In swimming, they won 3 gold medals and 14 total medals, which placed them 4th in the final table.
Hopefully, Kayla’s representation of the Phillipines serves to grow the sport and bring national pride to that beautiful but impoverished country.♡
That’s not to say we don’t miss her representing Canada.
>where she set a Philippines Record in the semi-finals of the 100 free (53.67) to qualify for the semi-finals.
Interesting time travel loophole. WA needs to crack down on this.
Fixed.