Photo caption: Oscar De La Hoya (left), sister Cecy and brother Joel at the Cancer Center’s dedication April 12, 2000, with a portrait of their mother, for whom the Center is named. The portrait hangs in the Center’s entryway. Photo credit: White Memorial Hospital.
Casual Talk via HOLLYWOOD, California – Call him a drug user or anything else that would tarnish his repurtation even more, being a new candidate for drug rehabilitation. According to TMZ, Oscar de la Hoya “voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility in California for substance abuse issues a few weeks ago”.
But, such cannot alter the fact that he has long been a soul of Los Angeles since his rise to stardom from his golden days in the Olympics of 1992. Boxing and inspiration regularly spill into the streets. And it’s not enough either for admirers and even curious minds: they browse the crossroads of Cesar Chavez Boulevard and State Street by which these triumvirate Freeways 101, 10 and 5 all bolster the White Memorial Hospital which is built and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, that which De la Hoya is the biggest benefactor the history of such medical institution could best tell.
Eddie Alinea, president of Sports Communicators of the Philippines, and esteemed writer Robbie Pangilanan, who is serving as Secretary General of the same organization and also writes for Manila Standard, visited along with this author the same hospital that De la Hoya, along with other donors, has helped in the rebuilding into becoming as one of the best hospitals in the US today. They were both amazed by the kind of compassion De la Hoya has for mankind.
“Wow, what a genuine heart he has given to the people of Los Angeles! I hope Manny Pacquiao will fulfill what he has been promising all along since the days prior to the Philippine Elections in 2010, that is to build a big hospital in Sarangani,” said Alinea.
Yes, De la Hoya rather makes things happened even without a media coverage.
“I don’t care much about media coverage for my projects. I just want to help people. I just want to make sure better things are happening for the lives of the people in the community of Los Angeles,” said De la Hoya.
Meanhwile, when Pacquiao was asked about his plan to build a big hospital in Sarangani, he said “It’s going to happen very soon.” That was in the first quarter of 2010.
If Michael Koncz were to be believed, “Pacquiao is still trying to raise funds for it. He has no money for that project yet. The people of Sarangani must understand.” At least, these were Koncz’s specific statements in recent weeks.
Unlike Pacquiao, De la Hoya is a non-devout Catholic. He is not a profligate politician, nor somebody who is laden with promise and hope. He is, by far, an enterprising man who sets his vision straight to the hearts of both physically sick and financially challenged. He built the Cancer Center of the same institution name after his mother, Cecilia Gonzales, who was hospitalized and died of cancer there in 1992. He rebuilt as well the most advanced birthing center called Birthing Center and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, both named as well under his name. And, by the way beyond his medical mission, he goes into the call of one’s destiny: he gave more than five million dollars to his old faith church when the excavation for the foundations of the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angeles began in May, 1999.
Truly, De la Hoya is a no non-sense steward of his own blessings.
De La Hoya also started a charitable foundation to help underprivileged youth to education. In 2008, he donated $3.5 million to the De La Hoya Animo Charter High School in Los Angeles.
What is more now for Pacquiao than what De la Hoya has spoken into reality alongside over their both successes and challenges?
Could Pacquiao really equal the goodness of De la Hoya?
One registered voter, from Alabel, Sarangani, Philippines, who is still supporting Pacquiao now questions: “How soon is soon?”
To be continued…
The Golden Rematch: Oscar De La Hoya Vs. Manny Pacquiao
