Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao returned to the country Saturday after his latest ring victory in Las Vegas, bringing with him his pair of yellow gloves.
Nini B. Cabaero
Beyond 30 More Sections Local News Opinion Business Sports Feature Lifestyle Entertainment
He arrived at 6:35 a.m. yesterday together with his wife and entourage after his May 8 victory over title challenger Shane Mosley. A crowd of family members and followers welcomed them at the Manila airport.
Pacquiao said he would pay a courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III in Malaca?ang as he plans to give as ?pasalubong? to the President the yellow gloves he used in his fight against Mosley.
That, so far, has been his public action towards the fight against poverty, with much more definitely to be expected of the most popular and richest member of the House of Representatives. Pacquiao sits in the House representing the Sarangani district.
In his pre-fight statement, Pacquiao announced he was joining the battle to help the Filipino poor. He has partnered with the Gawad Kalinga Foundation in its work to build homes for thousands of poor families in urban and rural Philippines.
He decided to use yellow gloves, instead of the traditional dark colored ones that made it hard for the opponent to see the punch, to symbolize that fight. Yellow was the campaign color of President Aquino and his late mother, former president Corazon Aquino. To Pacquiao, yellow was the color for unity and the country?s quest to knock out poverty.
Pacquiao urged Filipinos everywhere, including those who witnessed his latest fight at the Las Vegas hotel, to wear yellow that day. When the day came, live television feed of the venue did not show masses of people in yellow. What stood out as bright yellow were his gloves.
After the fight, Pacquiao wore a suit and a yellow or golden colored tie to his concert. But that was it for the symbolism because there was no sea of yellow during the victory celebrations.
The raising of the poverty issue by Pacquiao to a global audience was laudable. It added humanity to a fight between warriors. The boxing ring was an apt venue because it was where many stories were heard of fighters who started out in poverty but ended in glory and riches.
Pacquiao is a credible ambassador of the Filipinos? campaign to stop poverty. His name is known worldwide, he has received plenty of accolades and he came from a poor family. He went through the difficulties of life, raised by his mother after his father abandoned them; he stopped schooling and tried out boxing at a young age to earn money.
Many politicians have used the problem of poverty as a way to market themselves, to endear them to the populace, to gather votes. Plenty of lip service has been paid in the name of poverty.
Pacquiao may not be one of them because he does not have to resort to gimmickry to seek the favor of Filipinos, not after his successive conquests.
