Manny Pacquiao: What He Means To His Country
By Ingming Aberia
Boxing superstar and Philippine Congressman Manny Pacquiao will turn 32 on December 17 (Philippine time) and, by punching his way to success inside the ring, has created such a positive impact for his country in a manner few Filipinos have ever achieved at such a relatively young age. This is the same man who, as a youngster, often skipped meals not to beat the scales on the day of weigh in (as he did later as a prizefighter), but because there simply was no food to eat; the same man whose story started with nothing but a dream to become a boxing champion, make money, and be able to send his earnings to his mother so his siblings may live.
Already being deified anywhere as one of the greatest fighters of all time, at home he is also fast becoming to be ranked alongside the nation’s icons of responsible citizenship. How does he fare among other Filipino greats?
Let’s reel off some of my favorites:
- Major Ferdinand Marcelino, 41, of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency had seen action in the blood-dripped battlefields in Muslim Mindanao. But he conceded that war on illegal drugs is uglier. Pushed to the limelight a couple of years ago by congressional investigations on a drug buy-bust operation involving scions of wealthy families, he admitted having been offered huge amounts of money that were meant to deter him from pursuing the case. That the case did unfold into one that eventually pitted government functionaries charging each other of impropriety could only mean that he refused to give in to the bribery attempt.
The 11th of 13 children, Marcelino’s family was so poor he had to support himself through college. At the time his integrity was being tested, one brother was billed to undergo medical procedure and apparently had an emergency need for money.
- Lea Salonga blazed the path for Filipino entertainers dreaming to make it big on the global stage. Barely out of her teens, she sang and acted her way to fame in the 90s with a superb portrayal of the lead role in “Miss Saigon,” the British-produced musical. She has been an international celebrity since then.
- Bobby de la Paz (1953-1982) was a Manila-bred middle-class physician schooled in the country’s premier learning institution, the University of the Philippines. He could have chosen to go green-grazing like most of his kind did. But instead of establishing a financially-rewarding career overseas, he practiced his medical profession in remote and poverty-stricken Samar where many of his patients were so wretched they already did well by paying for his services with anything they got—like live chicken and other domestic animals—instead of cash. He was only 29 when he was murdered after the military had warned him against attending to all the sick that sought his help, including those they suspected of being local insurgents.
- Jose Rizal (1861-1896), the national hero, defied the Spanish rule with satire. His works led to many other things, including trumped up charges that took away his freedom and, eventually, his life. He was 35 when he fell from bullets of a firing squad.
Unlike Marcelino, Pacquiao may not have the resolve to shun temptation where personal interest is concerned. In fact Pacquiao might have embarrassed himself and his supporters when, sometime in 2006, he supposedly closed a promotional deal with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, only to unilaterally dishonor it when Bob Arum offered him what could be assumed as a more enticing package.
But where the national interest is at stake, Pacquiao has proven himself equal to Marcelino’s standards. For year the Bureau of Internal Revenue published a list comprising the country’s top taxpayers, and Citizen Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao happened to be on top of that list.
Although 90 percent of the country’s wealth is owned by only ten percent of the Philippine population (around 88 million as of 2010), this ten percent still constitutes tens of thousands of families, and at least two of them are included in the recent Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s richest people. What the BIR list thus suggested was that thousands of Filipinos among the ranks of the rich could afford to cheat their government by not paying the right amount of taxes. They failed in their privileged position to promote the proper exercise of citizenship. By a singular act of honesty, Pacquiao—like Marcelino—has exposed what ails his country. He has shown what prevents it from progressing as a nation. He has opened a dump where corruption stinks from the highest strata of society and of government.
As a prizefighter, Pacquiao—like Salonga—lives in the world of entertainment. They rose to the pinnacle of their craft not only by the brute display of talents they possess. They reached unmatched levels of excellence through a dedicated effort to hone their skills to perfection, one that required hard work, focus and faith in oneself. To learn success through their examples is to give everything one has, which requires discipline. To be another Pacquiao, in sports or in whatever arena of life, one needs to continuously test his or her limits, dare the odds and face certain risks—all of which require courage.
The selflessness and heroism of De la Paz and Rizal are something that merit eternal gratitude from a people who are in constant need of heroes. For years the Overseas Filipino Workers have filled this need. For years the Philippine government could have been ruled by double the dose of creeps it has been used to having and its economy would have survived just the same. The Philippine economy survives and endures not so much because of the government’s astute fiscal management strategies as for the dollars being poured into it by OFWs.
In a context where millions of his compatriots work as virtual slaves in other countries to make a decent living, Pacquiao has gained parity status with other nationalities in matters related to the commerce of men. In a sense, therefore, one could make a case where he has managed to become the employer of, rather than being employed by, foreigners. It is a case in which Pacquiao himself would unlikely relish being regurgitated in public. But for his countrymen, it is a source of collective pride and one that lifts their human spirit.
For the majority of Filipinos who continue to wallow in poverty, Pacquiao represents hope. For those who grope in the darkness of doubt, he is like the flicker that assures them of their capacity to succeed.
The man who had nothing early in life has now under his command almost everything. He has money and all it can buy. With an estimated asset of close to 70 million dollars, he is number six in Forbe’s list of the world’s wealthiest athletes. He has a multitude of fans. He is famous. He has graced the cover of Time Magazine and Readers’ Digest. He has appeared in mainstream American TV talk shows. Hollywood celebrities have called on him. Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush had gone out of their way to acknowledge him.
In a relatively short period of time, the Pacquiao legend has soared to dramatic heights. The Filipinos would do well to be grateful for the day this man was born 32 years ago at around this time, and for his parents who raised him to become a ferocious hunter of his dreams.
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The author can be contacted at iaberia@yahoo.com
*Please refrain from leaving any Racist, Profane or Derogatory comments*
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vales y hueles queso perdedor
For the sports product today called Paquiao mean “no longer” an idol, an example for youth, hope, honesty and true to their beliefs, today we see that a man can stand before the world and pray before asking to God for justice fight and lying to himself even when he lost clearly. Today he lost against all he people who watched him fight. If he wanted to be more like a hero and example to the world, today he has given victory to corruption, injustice, greed, despair, bad faith, and accepts his crown as king of lies from the men (judges and businessmen) and in front the god that he prays to him and to the man who defeated him with dignity. Today Marquez rescued me from the disappointment of not only the box or any other sport or activity that any person undertakes, showing that he can beat the invincible with just his heart and soul, and spirit to work with dignity, today I put the belt, crown, of world Champion to Marquez. I hope there are many Márquez not only in Mexico; more like him all over the planet demonstrate that we are made of real men, who are worth of admiring
Para el producto deportivo llamado Paquio hoy deja de significar un ídolo, un ejemplo para la juventud, de esperanza, de gente honesta y fiel a sus creencias, hoy comprobamos que un hombre puede pararse ante el mundo y rezar antes de pelear pidiendo a Dios justicia y mentirse a si mismo a todos aun cuando quedo muy claro ante todo el mundo su derrota. Si quería ser lo mas parecido aun héroe y ejemplo mundial hoy le ha dado la victoria a la corrupción, a la injusticia, avaricia, a la desesperanza, a la mala fe, y acepta su corona de aquellos hombres (jueces y hombres de negocios) que lo nombran rey de la mentira frente al dios al que le reza y ante el hombre que lo derroto dignamente. Hoy Márquez me rescata de la desilusión no solo del box o cualquier otro deporte, o actividad que cualquier persona realice, demostrando que se puede vencer a lo invencible en cuerpo y alma con trabajo y espíritu con dignidad, hoy yo le pongo el cinturón, la corona, la capa de Campeón del mundo. Que existan muchos Márquez que nos demuestren de que están hechos los verdaderos hombres, los que valen la pena admirar.
Mr Lars, the Philippines is a third world country. Despite that, I have met polite, friendly and courteous women from there. You might have misread their intentions. Unless you went to the red light district area. Women there, like women "of the same feather" from around the world, will throw themselves at you if they smell money. Apparently, in the Philippines, the women who do that are actually men in skirt. You lucky boy!
To mexicano soldier, I personally believe Pacquiao doesn't take steroids. I will tell you a secret but do promise thats its just between the two of us,ok? Do you know that Pacquiao is an alien? That's why he has the capabilities that "annoys" you...So please don't tell anybody especially Floyd Mayweather because he might require DNA test instead of test for steroids,ok?Can I count on you?Tnx!
@Mark...that is clever! Hahaha!! Now he is telling his idol Floyd to ask Manny to take the DNA test! That is awesome! LOL!
hey! Lars! I am a filipino, i went to Florida U.S.A. as a tourist and during my stay i met a lot of white whores too, and one of these white whores even asked me if she could come live with me in philippines. LOL!
@Juan Tamad...LOL!!!! And they want a Phillipine Green Card since they have a really a miserable life in the US? LOL!! They just do not realize that Filipinos who are outside their country works hard and save a lot of their money and go home and they are the ones who are rich when they come back because they are smart and saved so they can retire early back home. So many Filipinos are rich in the Phillipines when they retire because of having a lot of dollars saved. These Filipinos can even pay Lars and Mexicano Soldier mow their lawns!!!Or wait! They will not trust these two idiots even mow their lawns!!!LOL!!!
@Lars, the idiot....You are one miserable little kid. You have so much hate toward Manny and the Filipinos and the Phillipines and i wonder why. i am sure that you got dumped by a Filipina woman. Even if Manny loses the people in the Phillipines still loves the man because of not being a great boxer but being a good man. You are so jealous and envious because you think the guy like you will be better because you are American. If it is true that filipino women throw themselves at you, well i feel so sorry for these women because i am sure they are stupid women like you. Who would like to fool around with a man looking like you. I even doubt that you can even afford to go anywhere because you seemed to not having any life at all but to type some hateful comments on websites. LOSEERRRRRR!!!!!
It seems you're a pretty insecure kind of person. Women like you because they want to come to US or they want your dollar. That means you're a pretty ugly kind of person. White girls like me not because of my dollar because they got more dollar than me. And the worst part for white girls they jump guys to another guys. Is your Mom white and do they same thing? It's very common in the US. lol. hmmmmmm.
the filipinos are proud of pacquiao. a man like him comes only once in 100 years.
pacman forever.history of pinoy power.
@ Lars, And what about your country huh? And how do you call it useless? Do you really know the meaning of FACT and FICTION? It doesnt concern you at all and we dont give a damn who you are and what country you're from, we are PROUD and always be PROUD of the Great PACMAN! You can be erased in history in a split second but the name Congressman MANNY "PACMAN" PACQUIAO will be forever alive. Just dream on haters like you Lars, you got no life and you are dumb!
@ Lars: STFU!!!!!!!!!
hey mehicano! are u on a crack? it will not come to me as a surprise since you are closer there from its source. crying over the loss of mexican boxers to Manny? get a life man, it's not yet the end of the world! why not train hard and also get a shot at Manny? Can't accept that even your big guys are being felled by Manny? tell them to stop eating tacos and eat rice instead. maybe it will help them. import some tuna from GenSan too to beef up their meals, maybe, then maybe your boxers will defeat our Paman.
tang ina mo!!! we filipinos still have ou honors!!!!
you're just an uneducated american, the reason's why you went to our country just because you're such a POOR BOY have you seen your country with a lot of bitch like you..
Hey lars, have you been to Mexico? I read from the Reader's Digest some years bak mothers are selling their 10 y.o. daughters for 10 dollars, how about that? And they would stake their lives just to cross the border. What's the problem with you man? How great is an amreican by your standards? asking for a meal stub isn't a thing here in our country. People would do anything to make a living but not live on food stamps. Rural folks here would offer even their last meal just to accommodate a visitor. Do american homes do that? Yeah, i guess you are educated enough but to berate another nationality is not your right or privilege. I am very civil but the way you act, just try me. I have lots of american friends from the peace corps but i haven't met such a guy like you!
Mexican Soldier is the Mexican equivalent to Lars. He is a poor, uneducated Mexican. His posts should be a give away. He spits out venom because his pain is too great for him to deal with. He blames Pacquiao for his Mexican's idols failures. He takes great pride in Mexico's boxing heritage. You can't really blame MS, his only source of pride have been taken away from him by Pacquiao's destruction of Mexican boxers. Until Pacquiao do lose, MS will remain a bitter man. His rant is actually therapeutic for him. MS, I'll have to warn you that you'll be hurting for quite a while more. But what can you do, bro? Pacquiao will probably go down as greater than any Mexican boxer in history. Just get use to it, MS. Accept that Pacquiao is great and I guarantee you that you'll feel a lot better. The truth shall set you free from your pain.
@Don Donatello....bullseye! I agree with you with everything. I know that these two morons are so much in pain and they so resort to posting some really hateful comments about Manny and his people. I can tell right away that MS and Lars came from very poor, low-class background because of the way they think and the way they talk. I just can not imagine the pain these two must feel. I feel so sorry for people like these because whether they like it or not they can never bring Manny down.
Get a life! You just cant simply accept the FACT that the Great MANNY "PACMAN" PACQUIAO is the best ever fighter in the world! Stop living in a FICTION world my friend, its not good for your health. Why there is such people like you LARS and Mexicano soldier??? Are you really a human???
LARS I bet your Mother is the same!
look who's talking here! i wont argue about the wealth thing your country had compare to my poor country. yes we are poor, but look at the data of who's on the happiest people on this planet. Money wont buy you happiness.
@Lars: I am a Filipino. You are calling other comments uneducated, do you think that your comment is educated? Educated people are not racist and are not trash talkers. Maybe you should go back to school. What a shame.
@Lars Hey white boy, quit talking smack. How does it feel to be a tough guy behind the keyboard. Please come back to the Philippines so I could personally meet you at the airport and read you the riot act. Please, please, please come back so I could kick your pale ass and stick your green card up where it should be.
HAHAHA! White men superior superior than Filipinos??? how about this...that America is in dire need of teachers and hired mostly from the Philippines. Now, look closely who educate the American students...the people whom you call "PEA BRAIN" and 'UNEDUCATED MORONS." Clearly you are not a product of those Filipino teachers, thank goodness!!! America also hires nurses from the Philippines, you know, to make americans healthy and moving...those people are what you also call, PEA BRAIN and UNEDUCATED MORONS!!! I wonder what you do in life???hmmm? How you say things to other people is a reflection of who you are. I'm not saying Lars is uneducated moron and/or pea brain. And, by the way LARS, this is my simple English that I learned in college. I'm sure you understand this pretty well. We're communicating here, right? Think of me not as a pea brain or uneducated (because I'm sure I'm not). Sometimes, you just have to open your eyes and widen your horizon...ok Lars? Peace White Boy!
Huh, uncivilized and sensitive? Yours is a typical response coming from a smug, superiority-complex deluded prick who thinks that their "whiteassness" is the be all and end all. It is not about sensitivity, in case you haven't gotten the picture yet. Unless you learn to respect other cultures, your "whiteassness" doesn't mean jack to me. If being uncivilized is what it takes to drive my point in your fatuous complacent mentality, just because you eat white bread, I would still gladly meet you at the airport. Read your post again--and your previous posts in other topics--then ask yourself where you went wrong. Dunghole.
@Well said!! This stupid kid, the idiot Lars, has the nerve to say uncivilised when in fact he is the one just keep instigating hateful comments. But you can tell that this idiot came from a white thrash family. White is superior, my a**!! What if people are poor, i have more respect to a homeless person as long as they are not jerks like Lars!!
Accept it Lars, that once you mother was also a whore and your sister too..you grew up in an environment which you only knew! thats why you speak the same garbage thing. Big guts indeed by writing and hiding somewhere else, but just try to tell it any Filipino you will see on the road, and you will find exactly what you are up to, white man.
LARS & MEXICANO SOLDIER A YELLOW BASTARD AND A WETBACK WITH SHARED STUPIDITY!!
Angry tilapia your comments are ignorant and uneducated.
Angry Tilapia Farmer - Its comments like these that put a bad name for other fans of Manny. You are showing your ignorance. A mans character is always revealed by the way he sees others. If the picture you have is of your child, please be more open minded for his sake.
Lars is just a redneck, that's an uneducated white trash. I've dealt with his kind. They blame everyone but themselves for their lot in life. That's why they join the military to escape from their miserable existence. To feel better, they go to other countries and they finally are not the bottom of the totem pole. But as soon as he return to the states, he is once again at the bottom. He looks around and see minorities doing a lot better than he is and he becomes bitter. He lashes out and blames Others for his failures. Wake up, Lars, there is no more White entitlement to a job with a high school diploma.
@Lars .."moment he loses his whole country will spit on him"? is an ignorant comment. Indeed Philippines is poor and many people want green cards to get out of the country. Surely you are not faulting Pacman because his country is poor? Or it is wrong to "overpraise" him because his country is poor?
@Lars The country will never spit on him after what he is done. Indeed your encounter with women trying to get greed cards is nothing new - it simply confirms the pervasive poverty in the country - in a twisted way it has something to do with Pacman's greatness. But Lars, if a son or daughter should not be faulted for the sins of parents, why put down a person because his country is poor?
@ Lars, how long have you been in the Philippines? You haven't seen the entire country and yet you speak ill about the people there, esp. Filipino women! You are an ignorant WHITE MAN. Why don't you write your own article and KISS YOUR OWN BUTT!!! and let's see what happens...You're a disgrace to the American people.
@Lars.... It seems you're a pretty insecure kind of person. Women like you because they want to come to US or they want your dollar. That means you're a pretty ugly kind of person. White girls like me not because of my dollar because they got more dollar than me. And the worst part for white girls they jump guys to another guys. Is your Mom white and do they same thing? It's very common in the US. lol. hmmmmmm.
Mr Lars, the Philippines is a third world country. Despite that, I have met polite, friendly and courteous women from there. You might have misread their intentions. Unless you went to the red light district area. Women there, like women “of the same feather” from around the world, will throw themselves at you if they smell your money. Apparently, in the Philippines, the women who do that are actually men in skirt. You lucky boy!
As much as Pacquiao being heralded and celebrated, he is still under appreciated. Filipinos are easily branding some promising upstart as the next Pacquiao. I've been a HUGE boxing fan my entire life and I've seen many fighters come and go. I started to suspect that Pacquiao might be something special in the second fight of his that I saw. The reason was that he was able to solve a very difficult style from his opponent. People don't realize that a COMPLETE package like Pacquiao seldom happens; talent, work ethics, dedication, granite chin, stamina, two handed power, speed, smarts, adaptability, courage, tenacity, aggression, desire, and skills. Including Mayweather, there are no other complete package out there, it is only Pacquiao. His faith has turn him into something bigger than himself. When Pacquiao is done, he will leave a giant void. People will be left watching fights like Maywether/Baldomir and worse. Pacquiao's impact on boxing will be felt much, much more when he is gone from boxing. There will be a great calling for his return. I hope he avoids the faith of other boxing greats and never make a return.