With a few fights left in his storied and fabled boxing career, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is now starting to get an idea of what the new life and the new world that he is getting into would be like.
In a span of a few weeks, the Pacman was at the receiving end of a triple whammy.
First, he was accused of harboring a man wanted for his alleged involvement in an illegal car syndicate; then, he was linked to businessman Cris Aquino, a firearms dealer, whose resort in Boracay Island reportedly violated environmental laws but received special treatment from the environmental department because of Pacquiao?s closeness to former secretary Lito Atienza; and finally last week he was hailed to court by the taxman.
Manny?s reactions to the three issues showed the three facets of his personality.
There is the angry Manny when he threatened to file a multi-million peso libel suit against the journalist who wrote that he harbored a wanted criminal.
In the Boracay controversy, Manny showed the mellow and humble personality when he explained that he was just helping a friend and that whatever problems Aquino is facing are his problems and that he has nothing to do with it.
And then, he asked President Aquino to sack the director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) who initiated the filing of the tax charges against him, an act which could be a hangover from the special treatment he was given under the previous administration when the President was present in his birthday celebration.
These three issues, however, should be perceived by Manny Pacquiao as a preview of the things to come as he slowly disrobe himself of the iconic boxer?s outfit and enter into the dog-eats-dog world of politics.
He should realize that it does no good to react angrily to every negative issue and criticism raised against him as a politician.
Media attacks and criticisms are served breakfast, lunch and dinner when you are a politician. Manny has to learn to just shrug his shoulder and grin it and issue a credible explanation.
Manny should start selecting his friends if he intends to project a respectable persona in politics. In the new world that he will wade in, there is such a thing as ?guilty by association.?
And finally, Manny must realize that there is no real friendship, not even real friends, in the world of politics.
As the old maxim goes: ?In politics there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.?
This is a world where the word ?prostitute? is not as bad as it sounds. A political prostitute, one who sleeps with anybody who could help him further his agenda, is considered politically astute and clever.
Your ally today could be your enemy tomorrow or inversely; your enemy today could be your staunchest ally tomorrow.
Politics is unlike boxing where when your opponent is badly battered, you could look at the referee to urge him to stop the fight to protect your foe from further punishment. In politics, the rule is: If your enemy is down, step on him and trample him down to make sure he does not rise again to threaten you.
This is a game where instead of strengthening the jaw, Manny should thicken his skin so that he will not be affected by the attacks and criticisms and where he should harden his heart and toughen his guts to survive.
Politics is so unlike boxing where if you are in the blue corner, your opponent would surely only come from the red corner.
In politics, your opponents could come from all corners of the ring and even in the center of the ring where people who would come forward to present themselves as referees are actually beasts just trying to find the right time to devour you.
This is the new world and the new life that Manny Pacquiao must prepare himself for.
This is the Lion?s Den.
