Saturday, October 20, 2007 City fails to fulfill promise to honor Nietes on Charter Day By Henry C. Villalva
NEWLY-crowned World Boxing Organization (WBO) mini-flyweight champion Donny Nietes of Barangay Granada, Bacolod City and Murcia, Negros Occidental was nowhere to be found during Friday's Charter day rites where he was supposed to be recognized by the Bacolod City government for his world championship feat.
In a press conference held last October 3 following his victory over Thai Pornsawan Kratingdaenggym for the vacant WBO world mini-flyweight crown at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel, Nietes, accompanied by his parents, confirmed to Bacolod newsmen that he was informed by the City Government that he will be recognized during the October 19 Charter Day ceremonies after a resolution was unanimously passed by the City Council recognizing his professional boxing achievement.
However, Nietes was not present during Friday's Charter Day rites fueling speculations that the world champion may have been bypassed or forgotten.
In a telephone interview Friday night Nietes told Sun.Star Bacolod he was waiting for someone from City Hall to call him regarding the Charter day program but no one called. "Paabot man ko nga paabot pero wala man ko nila gin tawgan," Nietes said.
During a TV guesting over Sports Jam last October 4, Nietes who appeared as a guest together with his parents and uncle, Boy, a kagawad at Barangay Granada, said he appreciated the city's gesture of planning to recognize him as he had earlier been recognized already by the municipal government of Murcia, Governor Joseph Marañon and Bacolod Representative Monico Puentevella.
No one from City Hall could immediately be reached to comment on the matter as of this writing Friday night.
