Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Network Pooled Editorial: Pacquiao: the hero and the politician
IN myth and legend, a hero is “a man of great courage, favored by the gods and in part descended from them, often regarded as a half-god.” In real life, he is a person admired for qualities and achievements and regarded as an ideal or model.
Most Filipinos regard Manny Pacquiao as a hero for his being a world-class boxer. His victories, topped by last Sunday’s win over Mexico’s Jorge Solis, have made his country and people proud.
They regard Pacquiao as ideal or model as a boxer, but hardly for anything else. Well, they accept him as sharp product endorser and maybe as so-so entertainer. But as a politician? Clearly not.
The boxing crowd that booed Pacquiao not long ago and the survey result that said people believe his plan to run for congressman stinks must have told him a lot.
Politicos prevailed
For a while, Pacquiao heeded the advice not to run but politicians who are using him for their own interest ruled.
Now he’s running to topple a young opposition leader who helped torment the President in two impeachment attempts against her.
People place most politicians in lower rungs of idols or consign them near a dustbin. Why must Pacquiao be one?
They argue that their hero has the talent few other Filipinos will ever have and a hero like him surfaces only once or twice in one’s lifetime. His is a talent that can still be honed for tougher fights and larger triumphs ahead.
His fans believe that by becoming a politician, he might lose focus on his chief goal and pace of the sport’s regimen.
Public expectations
Aren’t doomsayers blowing it up? If he wins (and he’s likely to win, given our kind of politics), will he start sliding to mediocrity in the ring?
True, he can’t help much the House sessions, except when members ape counterparts in Taiwan’s legislature where fists fly quickly as rhetoric fails.
He may do better though in non-legislative tasks, taking care of constituents, which the locals appreciate better from their solons.
But how will it affect his boxing skills? For that is the sum of people’s fears about Pacquiao’s wading into politics.
We don’t know. All we know is that politics can distract him as a boxer and all we can do is hope his boxing won’t suffer from his politics.
Pacquiao knows his public can be harsh in its expectations. But he’s a hero, a big one, and public demands tend to be more exacting on his prowess and his image as well. (Sun.Star Cebu)
