As a matter of fact, he is equally effusive when he talks of his friendship with current boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, who has taken him in as one of his close advisers. The Pacman also refers to Macalintal as his “Idol”.
Just last week, the two found themselves as co-passengers in a flight to General Santos, where Macalintal represented TU candidate Miguel Zubiri in the canvassing of votes from Maguindanao.
Pacquiao immediately invited the lawyer and his party to lunch at his palatial Gensan residence.
Macalintal relates that Pacquiao confided to him his wish to be able to pursue a course in law. Atty. Mac is very supportive of the boxer’s ambitions saying “I look forward to seeing him in court as co-counsel. He will be 37 years old by then and me in the retiring years in my election lawyering.”
“Did you know that Pacquiao got first honors in Grade one, second honors in Grade 2 and again first honors in Grade 3? He cried when he had to stop schooling because of poverty and vowed to study again if the opportunity presented itself. Now that he is financially stable, he is dead-set in getting a proper education. He is an inspiration to our youth”, Atty. Mac admiringly reports.
The presidential lawyer, who was introduced to Pacquiao by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to help him convince Pacquiao not to run in the last elections, was also responsible for convincing the latter to concede to Darlene Antonino-Custodio before the latter was even proclaimed.
Despite criticisms to the contrary, Macalintal swears that Pacquiao is one of the most humble people he has ever met. He relates of riding in a van with the fighter as they entered the venue of the “Battle of Cebu” last February and the driver getting irritated at a security guard who insisted on verifying that indeed Manny Pacquiao was his passenger.
Pacquiao reportedly gently rebuked the driver, reminding him that the guard was simply doing his job.
In their shared plane trip via commercial airline, Atty. Mac says Pacquiao never turned down any of the countless requests by other passengers for souvenir photos. “He had no time to rest in that flight. I doubt his many other trips were any different.”
There were others Macalintal admired such as Rolando Navarrete and Luisito Espinosa, but reserves his utmost adulation for Ali, Pacquiao and past Filipino icons Young Terror and the great Flash Elorde.
He also has several albums of the Bogo fighter’s exploits and watched some of his fights including those against Solomon Boysaw and Teruo Kosaka. He rues however, that he was unable to see the Harold Gomes fight because he couldn’t afford the 80-centavo General Admission price at the Big Dome.
Macalintal indeed considers himself fortunate to have walked and talked with his boxing heroes. Although he is equally proud of his lawyer-client relationship with those in the corridors of power, he is just as comfortable being described as “an ordinary boxing fan.”
Surely, an “authentic” one, as Muhammad Ali himself would probably attest.
