There appears to be no signs of the euphoria that has gripped the nation since Sunday from subsiding. Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao is still very much in the news after conquering Mexican fighter Erik Morales in their 12-round fight in Las Vegas Saturday night (Sunday in RP). For once, there was something to cheer on in the news, definitely a welcome respite from the clowning around our politicians seem to be perfecting on a daily basis. As they say around here, Pacquiao succeeded where the politicians failed, and that is to unite a fractured nation.
So now, the Philippines is riding on the crest of “Pacquiao Mania”, with proposals to declare Pacquiao’s day of arrival (Friday) a holiday. In my city, local officials are reportedly toying with the idea of declaring Pacquiao, the poor boy from Mindanao who in the early days of his career boxed for a living than for love of the sport, an adopted son of Cebu. Often, people ask athletes what drives them to emerge at the top of their game. In the Cebuano dialect, we have this term “pamugas”, from the root word “bugas” (rice). Here in this rice-eating country, it essentially means doing something to survive. I’ve heard people say that when you put a man in the ring desperate to win a fight to bring dinner to his family against someone who’s boxing as a sport, expect the former to be more lethal.
On the morning of the fight, the streets were almost deserted. Cinemas in the mall were airing the fight live and I suppose that’s where most people went to catch the action on wide screen. I am no boxing aficionado but I definitely didn’t want to miss out the fight that has been heavily played up in the media. With the feeling of hopelessness pervading in the country, the fight sparked a sense of nationalism among Filipinos. Much of that was brought on by Pacquiao himself – he dedicated the fight to the country.
And he didn’t disappoint the millions of Filipinos who watched him knock down Morales. Because now my father watches the news more often than I do, I also heard that two men had died of heart attack while watching the fight. A Pacquiao fan in my city also reportedly went amok by firing a gun after hearing an erroneous report that his “hero” had lost to Morales. Only in the Philippines?
Posted by fleur at January 26, 2006 09:23 AM