Fame and notoriety sometimes come in tandem.
For two of those four weeks beginning November 14, the Philippines saw itself thrown into world attention.
By well over past noon of November 15, the country was in exhilarating frenzy following the masterful and lopsided victory of Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao over Miguel Angel Cotto to annex his seventh world title in seventh different weight category – an unprecedented and unparalleled feat in the history of boxing.
Like his past victories, the win over Cotto momentarily lifted the ‘Pinoy’ spirits and made them forget that this year’s Christmas will be as bleak as ever amid continuing fallout of the global financial crisis.
Forty per cent of the Filipino people who lived way below the poverty line and the millions who are without jobs will take a Pacquiao victory any time over worrying when the next meal would come from.
Until tragedy struck.
Barely has the Filipino people totally savored the Pacquiao victory when a fief from Maguindanao decided to wipe out opposition to their family’s reign over the impoverished province and mowed down 57 innocent and hapless civilians in the name of politics
It was a massacre so reprehensible that journalists struggled to find the most repelling objective to describe the barbaric murders.
Unfortunately too, the murder came too close to General Santos where Manny was and is all the time a resident and just eight days after his sterling annihilation of the former Puerto Rican welterweight champion.
At least 14 of the 31 journalists and media workers who perished in the Ampatuan massacre, as Mindanew’s Carolyn Arquillas would doggedly argue the incident to be called, were from or based in General Santos City.
All of them have, at several times, interviewed or covered Manny Pacquiao.
All of the sudden, the big event that was Manny’s emphatic win was reduced into the inside pages and afterthoughts in most broadcast news.
Manny took time off to sympathize with the victims by briefly appearing in the candle light protest action on the night when the murders broke out, November 23.
He also sent his ‘media coordinator’ who handed out envelopes containing cash to the families of the slain journalist victims.
Beyond that, no more statement coming from the Filipino boxing icon. Manny, busy as he is, never went to the wake nor attended the burials of the slain media workers.
Whether it was because Manny never developed closed ties and affinity with the slain victims or in deference to Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. who was a personal friend, only Manny and his closest advisers can tell why the Filipino boxing icon never took a strong and emphatic stance against the gruesome attacks on journalists.
Perhaps the Ampatuan Massacre, named so because it happened in the town named after the principal suspect in the ghastly murders, is a reminder for every Filipino people that Manny’s unifying factor is only as good while it lasts and when he keeps winning.
After the sweet smell of victory is washed away and the taste of champagne is drowned over, it is back to the sad reality.
And the saddest part of it is that some journalists and writers always gloss Manny’s spectacular feats as redeeming factors for the Filipino people.
No matter how many Manny Pacquiaos this country will produce if the basic structure that breed injustice and inequality remain, the Filipino people cannot hope that a boxing hero could turn this country from a corrupt and elitist democracy to at truly democratic republic.
In the meantime, the Ampatuan Massacre, now entering into its full month, will continue to grab a piece of the headline news.
And Manny will continue to draw rave reviews and public interest for as long as he keeps fighting – atop the ring or in politics.
Like yin and yang, however, fame and tragedy will feed into each other.
