Nobody else does it better. For sheer bombast and pompous preparation, leave it to Filipinos to outdo any other race in the whole world.
But with the much-awaited return today of boxing hero Manny Pacquiao – a triumphant homecoming expected to touch off the wildest celebration ever accorded a local sporting figure – this nation of 80 million could probably outdo even itself.
The groundswell of pride – and passion – triggered by Pacquiao’s 10th round demolition of Mexican legend Erik Morales has reached cataclysmic proportion all over the archipelago that no less than a senator of the republic had suggested January 27 be declared a national holiday.
If reports are true, 3,500 uniformed police personnel from National Capital Region would be assigned to secure the prized southpaw on his tickertape parade, making him the most guarded individual aboard a moving transport since the late Pope John Paul II.
Even Muhammad Ali, revered as perhaps the greatest boxer ever in the planet, failed to attract such mammoth security during the classic ”Thrilla in Manila” with Joe Frazier.
But then Pacquiao’s sensation victory has stirred the public’s imagination like no other, and fed the hopes and dreams of countless aspiring boxers who now look upon the ring gladiator as a savior of a floundering sport – an Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes with his teeth intact and his hair combed in place.
So when Pacquiao embarks from his plane from Las Vegas, site of perhaps his ultimate triumph, the branches of Philippine government – from the executive to the legislative and maybe the judiciary – are all lined up to raise the prizefighter’s status to iconic level, a mouth-watering homage Olympic silver medalist Mansueto ‘Onyok’ Velasco once savored.
The Fourth Estate will be there to chronicle his arrival, providing Pacquiao the media coverage usually reserved for visiting big-name heads of state.
From the Ninoy International, Pacquiao will be whisked to the Manila City Hall preparatory to a courtesy call to the President at Malacanang.
From there, atop an open-roof limousine, the self-proclaimed ”Storm Across the Pacific” will take the streets of Metro Manila by storm in a tickertape parade certain to ignite a frenzy of unprecedented magnitude.
