THAT was a rousing homecoming Manila and its mayor, Lito Atienza, gave Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Stormy weather did not deter the politician and the pugilist who proved that they were more than fair-weather friends.
The festive welcome is emblematic of the country’s hunger for a hero, a scarce commodity these days except for sports figures and overseas workers. It’s only to be expected that everybody from the President to the humblest citizen is thrilled when someone like Pacquiao comes marching home.
He has become the symbol of what a Filipino could be, a “world class” winner in the same way that Efren Bata, Jed Madela, Rizza Novales, and a few others are.
For his part, Pacquiao joins the pantheon of champions that includes the legendary Pancho Villa, Ceferino Garcia (“bolo-puncher”), and Flash Elorde.
In welcoming the pugilist, the politician couldn’t resist alluding to the national situation by saying that if there were less politics and more unity, Filipinos could prove themselves superior in many ways.
True, although Pacquiao and other champions are cases of individual excellence. What’s meant, perhaps, is if Pacquiao’s coordination of mind and body was to be the model for a body politic characterized by conflicting interests, things could get better.
Nowhere is the conflict more evident than in the politics in sports, where, for instance, officials and their spouses or cronies outnumber the participants in Olympic and other competitions. The sports sections of newspapers reflect the politicization of sports and the benign neglect of players who garner honors for their country.
Atienza’s lamentation over politics is over-arching. Politics as power-grabbing and prestige-hugging is everywhere—in children’s costume contests, beauty contests, in school and club elections, and in corporations. Politics also sometimes reigns in family and personal relationships.
There’s nothing basically wrong with politics, however defined, if it’s the pursuit of the whole rather than of the few. Politics, after all, was originally defined (and justified) as an activity aimed at the greatest good for the greatest number.
But that is just textbook talk. Our politics is “the war of all against all.”
