WILL LUCIO TAN pay P50,000 to watch Manny Pacquiao fight Oscar Larios on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum?
My answer is no.
While it’s true that the Kapitan is now listed in Forbes Magazine as among the world’s wealthiest persons, he’ll not be that stupid as to sit at ringside for the next Pacquiao fight to prove that he is, indeed, that rich.
OK, without a doubt, fifty thousand bucks for the Kapitan is a mere drop in the bucket. Bird feed.
To the wealthy, though, it is not all money. Dignity they value that much, too. Money commands power, but never respect.
Where is dignity in shelling out P50,000 just to watch Pacquiao probably floor Larios faster than Wyatt Erap gulps down his favorite drink?
Will the Kapitan’s P50,000 seat earn him respect, pogi (look-good) points, from the people?
Seething anger he might yet incur. He might get himself pelted with eggs and tomatoes coming from the bleachers.
There is poverty all over. Sixty-five percent of our population is hungry. Squalor assaults the national landscape endlessly, senselessly. Nearly five million are now without jobs.
How many mouths can P50,000 feed in just a single day?
Thousands, I tell you.
Even if I earn close to a hundred thousand bucks a month (I tell you the Inquirer pays that well, ahem), I won’t part with my P50,000 just to be at ringside. I’d rather that I watch it on TV, ice-cold beer in hand while seated on my rocking chair munching cashew nuts.
Oh, well, in contrast, the Kapitan can easily afford to toss in that P50,000 as much as he can easily afford building million-peso school houses nationwide, which he does in monotonous regularity but without fanfare.
But will the Kapitan do it just because Pacquiao, short of being declared a national hero by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is finally fighting on home ground? The thrill of seeing him, finally, in the flesh will be commensurate to the cost of a ringside seat? A perfect ticket to ride as The Beatles sang it?
I doubt it very much if the Kapitan, who I heard even hates going first class each time he boards a Philippine Airlines jet that he owns, can stomach that. It’s not within his province. Ask Henry So Uy, a trusted lieutenant of the Kapitan at PAL.
Now if promoters of the fight, who I must warmly commend for their boldness in presenting a money-intensive show, will ask the Kapitan for a donation — a sponsorship package, perhaps — I think the PAL owner will not think twice acceding to it. It could be that no less that a hundred ringside tickets might accrue to his benevolence. A jackpot it would be for our fight promoters.
Now, will he use one of the tickets?
Again, I doubt it.
The truly wealthy have a way with life that sets them apart from us, ordinary mortals. They are usually meek, shy, if not reclusive as in the case of American billionaire Howard Hughes.
And now for the general admission price of P1,000, will you and I go for it?
I won’t. Even if peddled at P500, as Pacquiao had reportedly batted for, it would still be expensive and unaffordable to Mr. Every Day People.
I remember that in one of Luisito Espinosa’s fights — was that in 1997 at the Luneta, in a world title fight against Manuel Medina of Mexico, under FVR’s reign? — it was staged for free.
Now if Ms Arroyo can reprise that, think about its impact on the people. More than a pogi point for an administration saddled with Triple C — corruption, credibility and coups.
Hey, I hope I’m not dreaming?
