WAVES of cheering erupted from the streets, showers of confetti fell from office balconies and Quiapo church echoed with the sound of the National Anthem as tens of thousands of Filipinos yesterday welcomed home their conquering hero, Manny Pacquiao.
It was not so much the ?Pacman? basking in his people?s adulation as a nation basking in the glory he brought them.
Crowds estimated by police at 200,000 jammed Manila?s streets to salute the man with a deadly pair of fists.
They included students who had skipped their classes, workers who had sneaked out of their jobs and still others who forsook their lunches to catch a glimpse of the pugilist who had given them the kind of pride their politicians and their government had failed to give them.
They greeted him with non-stop applause throughout the motorcade. Men chanted his name, teenage girls shrieked and others applauded from office windows.
One woman in the throng had other thoughts.
?Manny, anakan mo ako (Let me bear your child),? she pleaded with a sign in her hand as the rolled down C.M. Recto Avenue. The placard seemed slightly similar to a sign seen in another welcoming party for Pacquiao early this year.
The crowd of churchgoers at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo witnessed some firsts.
It was the first time a local celebrity was mobbed from the church entrance to the altar. It was the first time, too, that devotees had sung the anthem inside the interior of what should be a solemn church.
And it was the first time churchgoers said that they clapped their hands and repeatedly cheered a figure other than the Black Nazarene.
Only Pacquiao could whip up such fervor and frenzy, according to a member of the Hijos del Nazareno, a local church organization tasked to maintain order inside the church during the thanksgiving Mass for Pacquiao.
For the second time in less than a year, President Macapagal-Arroyo opened Malaca?ang?s doors to Pacquiao, and politicians jostled to have their pictures taken with him in an outpouring of adulation.
One media platform on the Palace grounds crashed under the weight of photographers and television cameramen.
?He united the nation for one day,? Presidential Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
Symbolic of his success, Pacquiao rode at one point in a silver P6-million Porsche SUV Cayenne, which a priest outside the jammed church in Quiapo happily blessed.
The five-hour long parade, which went on despite a drizzle, induced the most creative expressions of idol-worship not seen since the 2004 presidential campaign of late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr.
Through it all, the man whose fists destroyed Mexican legend Erik Morales in three rounds delivered a boast albeit in jest.
Asked whom he would want to fight if the choice was between Mexico?s other idol, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Venezuelan knockout artist Edwin Valero, Pacquiao set off a roar when he said he would fight them both at the same time.
Asked who between Barrera and Valero he preferred to fight next, Pacquiao said with a laugh: ?Pwede bang sabay sila? Round 1 si Valero, Round 2 si Barrera? (Can I fight them at the same time? Valero in Round 1 and Barrera in Round 2)??
He drew more laughter when he said that Valero, who had reportedly knocked out all his 20 opponents, ?fought only tricycle drivers.?
The crowds that lined the streets rivaled if not exceeded the size of the public welcome Pacquiao received last January after he drubbed Morales for the first time.
Balloons in Malaca?ang
At Malaca?ang, colorful balloons, confetti, screaming fans and again a cake greeted the ?People?s champ.?
The second time around, the Palace enhanced the celebration with a brass band to entertain the crowd at the Kalayaan Hall grounds.
Ms Arroyo told Pacquiao that he was truly the champion of the people by whipping Morales despite running a fever the day of the fight.
Next fight is with Barrera
?Maybe if you didn?t have fever, you would have knocked him out in the first round,? Ms Arroyo quipped as she and Vice President Noli de Castro ?interviewed? Pacquiao at a makeshift stage.
De Castro asked when and who he would fight next and Pacquiao said it would probably in March next year?and against Barrera.
Pacquiao was supposed to sing at the Palace event but begged off because of a sore throat. But he promised to belt out a song at a grand victory celebration expected to be held last night at the Rajah Sulayman Park in Malate.
Before Pacquiao left, Ms Arroyo gave him yet another cake prepared by the Palace executive chef.
The base of the cake was a fondant fruit cake shaped like a boxing ring. Resting on it was a glove-shaped large empanada.
The Palace celebration was marred by an incident while Pacquiao was being interviewed by NBN 4 anchors. The one-foot platform they were standing on gave way after other media people crowded around Pacquiao.
Cast of characters
If one would judge by the cast of political characters who shared the float with Pacquiao during his triumphal motorcade, rumors that he was being wooed to run alongside Manila Mayor Lito Atienza?s son, Arnold, in the May 2007 elections might have some credible ring.
Pacquiao, during a press conference, neither confirmed nor denied any political plans, saying he was not thinking of politics at this time.
?I am not thinking about that now. What I want to do is to celebrate the victory of the Philippines, this is not only my victory, but of the entire nation,? Pacquiao said when asked whether he would run as vice mayor of Manila.
The younger Atienza, also chair of the Manila Sports Council, shared the float with Pacquiao throughout the motorcade, starting at City Hall, down to Binondo Chinatown, through the slums of Tondo, and other parts of Manila before it ended near the Manila Zoo.
As though the daylong festivity?expected to last through the night?wasn?t enough, Mayor Atienza plans to erect a larger than life statue of Pacquiao at Baywalk on Roxas Boulevard.
Cameras everywhere
Mercy Tuquero, a 48-year-old street vendor from North Harbor, came as early as four hours before the parade started, holding up an envelope containing newspaper clippings and front-page photos of Pacquiao.
?I?m very happy to see him because I know he won fair and square,? she said in Filipino.
Everyone with a cell phone-camera simply had to take snapshots of the man. Even along the slums of North Harbor, some residents perched on rooftops, toting expensive digital cameras and handy cams.
Placards read: ?The National Fist (Pambansang Kamao)? and ?The Thorn of Mexico.?
A man bore a cardboard sign saying ?Manny Pa-Kiss (Give me kiss).?
Street peddlers cashed in with Pacquiao pins and shirts.
Prior to the motorcade, colorful confettis rained down as Pacquiao and his entourage arrived at the Manila City Hall to the cheers of employees.
?Thank you for the prayers for my victory. I offer my victory to the people,? Pacquiao said in Filipino.
Dream nurtured with faith
Fanny Chica, an official guard of the Black Nazarene in the Quiapo church, said people also cheer Ms Arroyo when she goes to Mass there.
?But only Pacquiao was mobbed (by cameramen) at the altar, which is supposed to be the most sacred area in the church.?
An octogenarian devotee said she was surprised when the National Anthem was played before the Mass.
?I thought (playing) it was a little disrespectful. It should not have been played in such a holy place,? the devotee said.
The cameramen were so unruly that priests were pushed around while they were taking shots of Pacquiao.
In his homily, Msgr. Josefino Ramirez hailed Pacquiao as ?a world champion and a Black Nazarene devotee.?
?From his own body sprang a dream that he nurtured with faith and hope in God,? Ramirez said.
