MANILA, Philippines — What’s the price tag for Filipino valor?
For an idea, read this excerpt on Manny Pacquiao, our national inspiration, straight from the Los Angeles Times:
“I told Oscar that Manny likes cash, he likes to deal in cash, he pays people in cash,” Freddie Roach said Wednesday in Hollywood, where he appeared to help Oscar De La Hoya promote his May 5 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. Actually Manny wanted more cash.”
Roach said that Bob Arum, too, relied on cash to later persuade Pacquiao to withdraw from the Golden Boy contract and sign with Top Rank.
“Arum gave Manny $1 million in cash right after Manny’s (December) birthday,” Roach said. “I don’t know if it was wired to him, or given to him in person but Manny told me when it happened, ‘I got a million in cash.’”
* * *
How much, do you think, is Pacquiao really worth in dollars?
A lot more than Filipino pride and values?
We may never know, really.
But it’s definitely a lot more than the $250,000 in $20 bills, which obviously made Pacquiao’s eyes pop when the hoard, stuffed in a suitcase, was offered to the Filipino boxing idol by De La Hoya after they met at the Los Angeles Airport.
Now, if the foregoing episode reported by the prestigious LA Times, wherein Pacquiao was made to appear like a blind, greedy hound, did not make you — a self-respecting Filipino — cringe, you’re due for a heart check.
You see, Pacquiao, despite his monumental achievements in Las Vegas, had hardly made it to the sports section of the LA Times.
But last week, that thing about the suitcase bulging with crisp dollar bills being used to bait Pacquiao was a big story in the respected newspaper.
* * *
The LA Times was direct to the point:
“Oscar De La Hoya lured Pacquiao into signing a multi-fight contract by delivering to him a suitcase stuffed with $250,000 in cash as a signing bonus at a Beverly Hills steakhouse in September.”
The De La Hoya bait for Pacquiao actually totaled $500,000 as would later be revealed –with the rest of the amount coming either through bank transfer or check.
It’s also open knowledge that Pacquiao later made a heartless turnaround by renouncing the pact he had signed with De La Hoya.
How and why did Pacquiao make that hideous move?
Simple. Trainer Roach said all Arum had to do was give Manny $1 million for the Filipino hero to renounce the deal with De La Hoya.
In fact, Arum last December came all the way to Manila where he and Pacquiao made a moving, lovey-dovey announcement of their new deal at the historic Manila Hotel.
* * *
Hold it. Arum had been quoted as saying he never gave Pacquiao a single cent in cash.
Correct. Arum did not hand Pacquiao any amount in cash.
But, to repeat, Arum gave Pacquiao $1 million to renege on his contract with De La Hoya.
Stressed Arum: “Manny got a $500,000 check from us, and another $500,000 to pay back Golden Boy.”
Pacquiao wanted cash, more cash, and Roach, Pacquiao’s trusted mentor, insisted there was nothing wrong with that.
Maybe there was nothing wrong.
But only if you don’t have values, only if you don’t have delicadeza.
OK, Pacquiao deserved all the dollars he had amassed in those cock-eyed deals with both De La Hoya and Arum.
Unfortunately, Pacquiao finally made it big in the LA Times only after scoring that heartless knockout at the expense of Filipino pride and values.
Pinoy Numero Uno was both shallow and cheap in that huge dollar deal.
Cheaper by the millions, if you please.
* * *
(NEVER HEARD: Twelve-year-old Juvylyn U. Robles scored three resounding wins in the table tennis event of STACAA (Southern Tagalog Calabarzon Athletic Association) meet. She did not get anything, even a faint recognition, for her feat. Why? Because competition was trivialized strictly as a team event, rued Nestor Robles, the winner’s father from Cuenca, Batangas… Have you heard of Giselle C. Rojas of Lumampao Elementary School? She won four gold medals in swimming (freestyle and breaststroke, provincial division) as representative of Cuenca in the STACAA, formerly the STRAA, which had produced many national athletes. Giselle’s great feat did not create a ripple. Why? Because the Department of Education apparently did not know what grassroots sports development was all about.)
