IF, with one arm, the Multi-Tasking Cong Manny Pacquiao, PBA playing coach, TV host, preacher, concert singer, commercial endorser, poll overspender, etc., unfocused, had defeated the focused Floyd ? the Iglesia ni Pacquiao High Priest may have overshadowed by now Brothers Erdie, Eddie, Mike and Ely, maybe even the Pope himself, in a nation desperate for heroes.
Kawawa naman si focused Two-Arm Floyd.
And if Manny had won, spiritual gurus Jeric Soriano and Pastor Quiboloy would not have come out as mga bulaang propeta, as they seemingly have. Remember Manny himself told TV host Katie Kouric that the Lord would deliver Floyd to him. Talk of taking the Lord?s name in vain. Presumptuous, in my view. One arm beat two arms, Manny insists. So, the Senate in 2016. The whole enchilada in 2022. But, Manny should retire and prepare now, to serve the public, and not for a rematch, to serve himself, as well as charming bullshitters like Harvard Law cum laude Bob Arum (who said in November 2013 Manny?s US Internal Revenue Service papers were in transit; they apparently haven?t arrived so Manny tops our Tax Evaders list to the tune of P3.9B; boxing fans, tax evaders and dynasts comprise a solid voting bloc; fellow Mindanaoanon Sen. Koko Pimentel wants Manny exempted from taxation for the undoubted good he has done the nation; but our current laws mandate the public officials lead ?modest lives?). And the ?poverty incidence in Sarangani has become worse, from 40.7% in 2009 to 46.5% in 2012,? during Manny?s watch. (Manila Bulletin, May 13, 2015, p. B-2, col. 4). He is doing very well for himself, if not for Sarangani.
Who would watch two ageing fighters a year from now? Jurassic relics with convenient hidden injuries in case of loss. Alibi Manny disappoints.
What did we expect in a fight between a focused full-time boxer (tutok) and a multi-tasking part-time one (sabog o kalat)?
What Bulgarian Serafim Todorov in the 1996 Olympics did to Floyd, and what Mindanaoanon Fighting Darlene in the 2007 polls (when Manny blew P120M, and she, even more, in violation of our election laws, if true), and Kano Floyd, just did to him, should make Manny come down to earth ? his feet may still be firmly planted in midair ? and accept his limitations.
No one wants him to be a stuttering, stammering, doddering Muhammad Ali. Hard blows in the head can be like a horse?s kicks.
Pacman wagered ? and lost.
The lawyer in me would have to wonder what would happen in the various lawsuits against Manny and alleged partners in crime, as it were, in an arguable case of Syndicated Estafa, affecting ticket and pay-per-view sales and betting odds.
Mindanaoanon Manny should study the BangsaMoro Basic Law bill now, and vote next week, as well as Scarborough, Sabah, the next budget, K-12, and other issues. I do not underrate anyone?s capacity for growth and change.
Manny, God bless. And God bless Saranggani and the Motherland.
American football pro quarterback Tim Tebow, the son of Baptist missionaries, born on August 14, 1987, in Makati, has just had a hospital in Davao inaugurated, low-key. One of my DIs (Dancexercise Instructors) is a Baptist convert, from Catholicism, and has the zeal of one. I keep getting God-Bless and biblical texts from her. Anyway, highly-regarded Manila Bulletin columnist Nene Guevara says that ?[t]he provincial hospital that the Champ promised to build remains to be completed.? Please see above, on the slide of Saranggani, after he won.
Meantime, we see Raul Castro, now virtually Numero Uno in Cuba, telling Pope Francis he may return to the Most Numerous Church. Raul had a Jesuit background. And had many siblings but not as many as St. Ignatius did, who was the youngest of thirteen. Had there been a dozen-child policy, today, no Ateneo, which gave us Erap and PNoy as Presidents.
Manny Pacquiao has been touted to join their ranks some day, say in 2022. He has finally read the Constitution and seen the age requirement. Previously, I would ask ?President of what country naman kaya?? ? as he was and is underaged for ours but announced his dream as if 2016 was his target.
So it may not be too soon to ask him about K-12, which has nothing to do with knocking out a dozen opponents.
I am a K-9 product. Five years in Makati Elem, accelerated, accepted and enrolled when, without a birth certificate, I was able to reach my opposite ear with my hand. Then four years in Rizal High, when Ateneo, La Salle and San Beda could not claim superiority over Rizal, Mapa, Araullo, Arellano, Torres, etc. High Schools, let alone those in provinces, e.g., Negros Occidental.
We had teachers who affected eternity, per Henry Brooks Adams. Many good teachers now may be abroad, in a more complex, expensive world. Those left behind may be good likewise but not of the caliber of our Ms. Flora Cenidoza in Makati and Ms. Maria Pineda in Rizal Hi.
Given the seeming lack of money and infrastructure and teachers, not even K-20 can save us, I fear, which may be debatable, from where this K-9 sits. What dimension can Senator or Prez Manny, multi-tasker, add to the cross-fertilization of ideas in this polycentric issue?
On the reported anti-competition or trust measure just approved by the House, he needs to study conscious parallelism, price leadership, resale price maintenance, etc.
These questions are submitted not to be unfair to ask any Senate and Presidential wannabe. No need to throw anyone under the bus this early, figuratively, and if you have boxing fans, dynasts and tax evaders backing you, you are a player not to be ignored in the Game of Thrones.
