MANILA, Philippines — Correction please, it was not a knockout that Manny Pacquiao had suffered at the polls.
Well, it had looked every inch exactly like a cold-blooded stoppage.
But take it from Darlene Custodio, the wispy charmer who dealt Pacquiao the resounding defeat in their race for a seat in Congress.
The people have made an honest choice, Ms Custodio explained in a live television talk with Pia Hontiveros Saturday night.
It was as simple as that, the composed, sweet-faced winner tried to explain.
Sorry, but the loser could not seem to fathom the noble truth.
* * *
Based on the results, voters in South Cotabato did not find it hard to choose the rightful winner.
Custodio was ahead by nearly half the total of the votes counted at press time.
It may not be indeed a knockout loss for Pacquiao, as Custodio had tried to assure her adversary.
But there was one big problem here.
Pacquiao, as of Sunday morning, had refused to concede while most other poll losers –including mayoral aspirants he had fiercely endorsed in both Makati and Manila — have accepted defeat.
This, naturally, has put mighty and popular Pacquiao among ridiculous sorry losers who remained on hard floor long after everybody has gone home.
* * *
“Lampas limangpo na ang bilang, ayaw pang bumangon (The KO count has reached 50, but he’s still on the floor),” quipped revelers during fiesta celebrations in Barangay Vergara in Mandaluyong City Sunday.
Indeed, the call of the day was for Pacquiao to get up and humbly accept defeat.
No, not necessarily to save face.
But that’s what’s normally expected of honorable warriors.
It would make him a better man because, despite being a super hero, Pacquiao had just been made to realize that he can’t win them all.
* * *
In the first place, hadn’t he been reminded time and again that it was not the right fight for him?
Yes, Bob Arum tried to push him and even came to Manila to help out in the poll campaign.
But those who tried to dissuade Pacquiao from running for Congress had included sincere, trusted allies and advisers.
“It was useless telling him what was right, siya talaga may gusto (he really wanted it),” confided international fight manager Rex Wakee Salud of Cebu.
In a way, Pacquiao could not be blamed.
To repeat, he must’ve felt he had the perfect weaponry to beat Custodio, who was to run for her third straight term.
* * *
Money, popularity and, most importantly, Malaca?ang backing — he had everything at his beck and call.
But Pacquiao had obviously overlooked one thing.
As Custodio would explain, Pacquiao had seemed oblivious to the fact that the area they had contested was anti-GMA (Arroyo) country.
It was an opposition bailiwick, the charming victor stressed.
No, this was not to say Pacquiao could’ve won had he not allowed himself to be both a lap dog of the President and a poster boy of Palace desperation.
* * *
“Pacquiao has no reason to feel bad,” Custodio clarified, “this should not be taken to mean people did not love him.”
Simply put, they still adore and admire Pacquiao.
It just so happen that, in his last big fight, he allowed himself to be identified with Malaca?ang wholesale when the dislike for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at its fiercest.
There was no way he could have avoided being dumped.
Pacquiao walked blindly into a knockout when he refused to accept how much people have come to hate his beloved President.
He did play it very dumb and, as the streetwise loves to put it, there’s still no known cure for this.
