The Champion is coming

Pacquiao is coming! To Bacolod City, that is. He confirmed this in an interview after the motorcade he had in Manila Tuesday, where he said he was going to four cities, among them Bacolod. Bacoleños will surely be ready to welcome their adopted son who has made his name a byword in the sports world, especially in boxing. It was not however specified when he would come.

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Aside from the invitation extended to him by the Mayor, this writer also tried to convince the new World Superfeatherweight champion to come and visit his adopted City I confess to a little arm-twisting which was by way of coaxing both Wakee Salud and Buboy Fernandez, two of his closest friends and advisers, to urge him to come and visit, by telling them about the 13 points in Bacolod where the city had put up TV sets so more people could watch his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez and pray for his victory. Both Wakee and Buboy remembered that the Pacman himself had noted when he came to Bacolod after his fight with Erik Morales, that the welcome he got in Bacolod was more enthusiastic that the one from his hometown, General Santos City.

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It was, however, upsetting to hear that his famous trainer, Freddie Roach, had met an accident while driving his 2008 Lincoln sports car at the US 60 highway. Fortunately, he survived the crash, but lost a tooth and is now suffering back pains and neck injuries. I hope he recovers in time to start the rigorous training of Pacquiao where the two of them engage in sparring and actual boxing where they act as if they were actually fighting in the ring.

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I have met Roach several times but have never dared to interview him for fear that I might not be able to understand him. He does mumble when he talks, you know. Lately, he seems to be making an effort to speak slowly when he is talking to Pinoys, someone must have complained to him about this. But he is quite accommodating, and very obviously dotes on his Number One ward now, Manny Pacquiao. Let’s hope for his quick recovery, too. We have to admit he is a big factor in the development of our champion.

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But let us not forget to concentrate our most fervent prayers on the recovery of our former president, Cory Aquino, who has began chemotherapy treatments in the start of her battle against the Big C. Diagnosed with cancer of the colon, the widow of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino is bravely standing up to her ordeal, but our prayers will surely help her to deal with what is said to be a very intimidating medical procedure.

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Even if the justices of the Supreme Court – nine of them – voted to protect the President by ruling that her executive order stopping officials from testifying against her is valid, it is consoling to know that the Chief Justice, Reynato Puno, himself did not vote for it and, in fact, wrote a dissenting opinion. Which means that he did not believe what the nine justices (eight of them appointed by President Arroyo) did, that the Senate could not compel star witness Romy Neri to disclose what he and the President had been talking about with regards to the ZTE-NBN deal. There is a bit of hope for transparency in government transactions, I think.

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The SC may have covered him with a security blanket, and the President, too, but what about the admissions he had already made, under oath, during his appearance at the Senate? Was it not there that he had spoken about that bribe offer of P200 million? Perhaps the senators know what the SC ruling means. As far as I am concerned, this can only mean that a clash between the Legislative and the Judicial branches of our government is forthcoming.

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It is true that, sometimes, we cannot see what is right on the tops of our noses while others can. Recently, I met a young woman, a Bacolod-born and bred one, who had been working in other parts of the country for several years and came back only during Holy Week. I was surprised when she noted that the air of hopelessness that she sensed here before she left seems to be gone now. When she graduated from college, she said, she and her classmates felt hopeless about finding jobs. Now, she said, it is obvious that our new graduates are more upbeat because there are more opportunities for work open to them in those new malls and call centers. I think her absence gave her the proper perspective.*

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