MANILA --- Two Negrense boxers who won gold medals in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in Bacolod City said Saturday they are still waiting for the incentives promised by two city mayors after their triumph in the biennial meet last year.

Talisay City-born pug Joan Tipon, the SEA Games bantamweight champion, said he and pinweight gold medalist Juanito Magliquian have yet to receive the P20,000 incentive committed by Mayor Anthony Lizares.

Lady boxer Mitchel Martinez, who hails from Pulupandan before moving to Bacolod in the 1990s, said she is waiting word from the Bacolod Mayor's Office as to when she will get her bonus promised her by Mayor Evelio Leonardia.

Leonardia is currently in the United States for some official transactions and to witness the rematch of Bacolod City's adopted son, Manny Pacquiao, and Erik Morales, while Lizares is confined in a hospital due to sickness.

Martinez, also the reigning Asian champion, said she and SEAG silver medalist Mark Jason Melleguin had gone to the Bacolod City Hall during the last week of December to inquire about their incentives but were asked to return in January.

"I went there (City Hall) last week to inquire again, before leaving for Manila but the staff said they have yet to receive word from Mayor Leonardia about the incentives," Martinez, an alumna of Bacolod City National High School and the University of St. La Salle, told the DAILY STAR during the annual Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards night at the Manila Pavillon here.

Apart from the P100,000 incentive given by the national government and the all-expense three-day vacation in Hong Kong, Martinez, Magliquian and Tipon were each given 10,000 by the Negros Occidental provincial government for their achievement. Martinez said she was also given P10,000 by the Bago City government.

"We don't want to sound materialistic but we are just hoping that they make good of their promises," Martinez added.

Martinez said she used part of her incentives to celebrate her SEA Games victory, throwing a party and giving gifts to her elementary classmates in Pulupandan, who cheered for her when she competed at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum.

Both Martinez and Tipon were given citations during the PSA Awards night for winning SEA Games gold medals.

Silay City-born athletes Sander Severino, who bagged five gold medals in the ASEAN Paralympics chess event, and Junrey Dayumat, a quadruple-gold medalist in the SEAG dragon boat racing event, were also among the major awardees that also included bemedalled boxer Manny Pacquiao and pro golfer Jennifer Rosales.

"This is a great honor for me," said the wheelchair-bound Severino, a polio victim who was accompanied here by father, Sam.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who arrived two hours late than expected, conferred the athlete of the year award to the "Filipino Athlete" for giving the country an unprecedented triumph in the SEA Games. *CPT

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