Filipinos have found a nugget of gold or two in the loss of boxer Manny Pacquiao to Mexican Erik Morales.
?Bloodied but unbowed,? screamed Pacland, a website dedicated to the Filipino superstar. ?Manny Pacquiao displayed the Filipino?s true fighting spirit,? said presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, who described the boxer as a sports hero.
While a win would have sparked a celebration in the country, the loss, admittedly, was no less uplifting. Pacquiao, thrust unto the world stage, showed again the character the Filipinos are known for: our thriving in the face of adversities.
It is the same nature that has made our workers the favorite of capitalists overseas. It is the same trait that is carrying other Filipino achievers through worldwide.
And it is the same warrior spirit that politicians not only failed to mine but are even weighing down with their lust for power, corruption, etc.
Cut through the skin of Filipino success stories thus far and you will find the same plot: Filipinos fighting valiantly on despite the sad state of our governance and politics, and then finally pulling through.
In this sense, Pacquiao?s loss to Morales can be considered a metaphor — Morales had what Pacquiao did not fully have: boxing skills to go with the warrior spirit.
Indeed, Filipinos are fighters and are succeeding because of that, but who knows how high they could have reached had government support been added to the brew.
Finally, a road show
Proponents of the measures to create three new provinces in Cebu are finally getting their acts together and have promised a road show, or more correctly, an information drive around the province.
Why this is being done only now would have been a good question, but one can set that aside and give the split Cebu hatchers enough leeway to hold the road show.
With the road show, the split Cebu proposal will finally be given a body and a face, unlike before when the refusal of the proponents to defend the move made it look more like a phantom to the public.
Cebuanos will now see the move as a serious undertaking, and that because it will determine the future of Cebu, they should start listening to or even joining in the debate.
