It’s the day before the elections in the Philippines. But just like the rest of us, Manny Pacquiao reserves this special day to celebrate Mother’s day and pay tribute to the two most important women in his life- his mom Dionisia Pacquiao and wife Jinkee Pacquiao. Truly Mommy Dionisia or PacMom which she is now more known to the world, deserves all the respect in the world for being able to raise six children, for the most part by herself, after she and Pacquiao’s father Rosalio separated when Pacquiao was only an adolescent kid. In an interview by Yahoo!, Pacquiao said “My mom is my inspiration. She taught me all the values and attributes I have now like being kind to your fellow man and to always pray and have faith. She guided us (Pacquiao’s brothers) to the right path.” Asked if he would grant his mother’s wish for him to finally retire from the sport of boxing, Pacquiao acknowledged that his mother’s wish will always play a significant role in his decision making. “My mom requested me to stop fighting because she gets hurt seeing me get hurt. I have to respect that because she is my mom. We will have to talk about it some more,” Pacquiao said. And as far as the mother of his four children Jimwell, Michael, Princess and Queen Elizabeth is concerned, Pacquiao exclaimed that his wife Jinkee is truly a woman she can be proud of. “My wife is kind, thoughtful, caring,” said Pacquiao. And on this special day, I hope we all take time to pay tribute to all the mothers out there. Without them, you won’t be here and I am a father myself and without my son, I don’t know where I would be right now. I saw first hand how hard and painful it is for a woman to give birth. Just like Fil-Am comedian Jo Koy said, and allow me to paraphrase, “us men we think that we’re tough because we go to wars, talk about contact sports (in our case boxing) like hockey and football, but imagine a football coming out of your butt… that’s tough!” So to all the mothers out there, and all soon to be mothers, and future mothers of my children (just kidding) Happy Mother’s Day! We appreciate you!!!
