The world has witnessed the prowess of Filipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao in a devastating second round knock out win over Englishman Hatton. The stunning end of Hatton goes to the books as one of the most brutal KOs in boxing history.
Whenever the venerable Manny has a fight, the Philippines keeps still. Cease fire between warring factions is enforced. Criminal activities in the streets run low if not nil. Filipinos converge in the malls, makeshift viewing nooks or plazas to watch their favorite son reap honor for the Philippines. More than half of the issues in the national dailies are about Manny. Patriotic comments flood the internet. Indeed, Manny is a Filipino god.
Beyond these insane euphoria and sheer patriotism, things in the Philippines do not change. It is still one of the most corrupt countries in the world with officials whose performance I hate to zero-in and spell out.
I don’t want to spoil the party. It is not good to switch horses in the middle of the river but looking at the Pacquiao phenomenon, if we are in our right senses, we must answer the question “Does Pacquiao’s feat has something to do with the Filipino welfare?”
I am not taking away an inch from Manny’s genius inside the ring. He is one of the best boxers in history but what has this to do with the Filipino welfare aside from his generosity?
The right-on-the-pocket answer is the Filipino pride. After defying grinding poverty in Gen. Santos City, Manny, now a self-made billionaire, has shown the Philippine map and flag to the remote villages in the world. We bark at the top of our voice that Filipinos can be excellent. Indeed we can be; both in goodness or in bad.
Every time Manny enters the ring, Filipinos are one in cheering and cranking up the Filipino patriotism. Can we do the same to fight and free our country possessed with social evils from A to Z?
When the heat of patriotism cools down and back to normal, our country is still the same gaining nothing from Pacquiao’s victory. Here and there, deafening exultation on Manny’s par excellence ring performance cannot assuage the suffering of the Filipino people nor could it alter the status quo. That does not ease poverty or minimize corruption. It does not promise constructive change in our lives as a people and as a nation. What if we have a god when in reality we live in hell with increasing fire intensity? Thanks to those whom we voted to power who, instead of making things better, they make them worse at a rapid pace.
I do not understand why we are satisfied to limit ourselves in deifying sports and entertainment personalities when more influential persons capable in changing the roadmap of Philippine government, ordained to be responsive to he needs of the citizenry, are there. Why can’t Filipinos unite to support real-to-goodness personalities determined to keep the country moving forward and not back? The fact that Filipinos can unite in idolizing Manny, I don’t see any reason why Filipinos cannot unite to make the country better and not worse.
While we congratulate Manny, let us examine our conscience as a nation and reinvent ourselves as citizens of this suffering nation.-30-
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