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January 27, 2006
Enough Already About Manny Pacquiao
Whaaaattt!!! A national holiday on the day of Manny Pacquiao's return? Aren't we overdoing it just a bit incredibly? So, ok, he won against El Terrible in an unforgettable boxing match, but did any of Pacman's dollars trickle down to me? Or any of my screaming, idolizing Filipino brethren. Nope, nope and nope.
True to Filipino form, Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr's proposal to call for a national holiday is overkill. Just like ABS-CBN's nauseous airing of everything that Pacquiao does. Just last night they featured a story about Manny Pacquiao's family missing him and excited to see him.
Susmaryosep! That's not news. That's called pimping! Perhaps they want to get enough mileage out of the boxer so his mediocre song, "Para Sa Iyo," makes platinum sales. Didn't they get enough already by airing his commercial-laden fight? Their pre-fight advertisements declared that the fight would be "live." That was an outright lie. Even before the televised fight ended, text messages already announced The Pacman's victory.
This is not to belittle Pacquiao. In fact, he stepped out of Filipino character by disciplining and preparing himself to face Morales who, by the seventh round, looked confused on how to deal with the "new" boxing strategy of Pacquiao. However, the aspect of his training should be the rallying point of all that is about Pacquiao in that if Filipinos set their minds on accomplishing something with perseverance, they will succeed.
Yet, like Sen. Revilla, we veer off-focus by extolling Pacquiao for uniting the nation. Uniting in what? As far as I am concerned, the only unifying factor was bringing a majority of Filipinos in front of TV and pay-per-view screens to watch the fight on a Sunday when most were at home anyway.
For sure, let's give Manny Pacquiao a victory parade with ticker tapes and all. Let's all cheer him until our voices get hoarse. After all, he upheld Filipino pride by beating a Mexican to a pulp. And he did it fair and square (eat your heart out, Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra) in front of a worldwide audience.
Then, when all is said and done, let's hunker down to a more disciplined way of life doing our every bit, WITHOUT COMPLAINT, to lift ourselves and our nation from the doldrums. This way we will eventually unite our country and will even be able to call ourselves heroes.
Posted by francis at January 27, 2006 08:35 AM
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