My corner

I am still a little pensive coz I missed to witness the title bout of our very own Manny Pacquio and the Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez yesterday morning. My Sunday schedule just didn’t permit me to join the billions of spectators here and abroad. I was hoping I could still give cheers and applauses but late did I know that the fight was already over. Too bad, coz I failed the excitements, jeers and the clever tactics how his power punches reached the opponent.

At any rate, the Pride of General Santos has once again brought glory to his struggling nation. He proved that everyone could be united and intact in the spirit of advancing Filipinos in the field of sports. By bringing home the bacon, he captured the interest of media and broadcasting networks globally, something laudable to downplay our country, Philippines, among the list of most corrupt government in Asia as published a week ago. I may profess that the honor of Pacman is a vivid indication of Pinoy supremacy as far as boxing is concern.

In the local arena, a good number of predictable observations transpired during match event. The phenomenon has nothing to do with science and technology, but the streets were not packed with vehicles; the bickering politicians ignored divisiveness; the criminality rate diminished and the incidence of street offences were almost nil. All these occurrences took place at the expense of Manny’s fate at the ring.

It saddens to contemplate that we Filipinos have not changed all through out the years. We are still captive of parochial mentality in going about perennial problems of this society. We only try to showcase collective stand at times when at stake is our reputation involving awards, titles, and monetary benefit, but otherwise the support is hardly get. These are the ironies of life that requires attention and critical analysis.

Manny surely is now billion peso richer with the entire premium, pay-per-view, guaranteed pay and all the contingent perks during the 12 rounds of enduring the pain within the boundaries of the ring. This enormous amount of money is equated to fame, fortune, and power in the context of Filipinos eyes. At least, Pacman worked in a licit way of amassing wealth unlike any other personalities with doubtful riches. Somehow, his recent achievement saved himself from the defeat for congressional bid during the 2007 election over Representative Darlene Custodio.

I hope we could have 365 Pacmans to sustain the cohesiveness and synergy among all walks of life.