Thursday, February 21, 2008 So: Pacquiao moves a parade By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
FOR decades now, the parade has always been held in the morning when nocturnal people joining it get the annual chance to see the sun actually rising.
Not this year. On the 71st anniversary of the Davao City Charter on March 16, the parade that kick-starts its celebration will be held in the afternoon to accommodate an event that will have Pinoys from Aparri to Jolo rooting for their boxing hero.
Because on March 16, Sunday, the country’s toughest international celebrity, Manny Pacquiao, is going to fight Juan Manuel Marquez again, four years after their first encounter disappointingly ended in a draw.
No one wants to miss this rematch, definitely not Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his constituents. I, too, will not miss it for anything, unless Roger Federer asks me to see him play in his practice matches in Dubai and then I will just have to read Jingo Quijano’s incisive and facetious comments about the rematch in Sun.Star Cebu.
When Sun.Star Davao editor-in-chief Stella Estremera texted me about how Pacquiao singularly and effortlessly moved the schedule of the Araw ng Dabaw parade, I thought of Pacquiao’s influence on our schedules and the responsiveness of a public official like Duterte to the people’s likes and dislikes.
Duterte knows better than to hold the parade on its regular time and suffer the consequence of poor attendance and curses from those in attendance. Pinoys will ignore Pacquiao’s movies but not his ring fights. Pacquiao has starred in five and produced two of the five and all five were far from Oscar, Cannes or Famas material. I had watched three of them on Cinema One, not successively of course. There’s not much hope in Pacquiao as an actor, unlike Pubs Briones, Cebu’s acting prodigy.
And so Duterte has the parade moved from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or immediately after the Pacquiao and Marquez’s fight. “I cannot take away that pleasure from the people. It is just a fight but it is the symbol of the country’s dominance in boxing kaya kailangan ko’ng magbigay. Adjust tayo,” Duterte was quoted by Sun.Star Davao as saying. He did not say anything about canceling it if Pacquiao loses.
The parade assembly will be at the Rizal Park where a huge screen will be put up so everyone can watch the fight on real time for free. This is way cheaper than bringing the Davaoenos to Las Vegas where the fight will be held.
This is a great way to assemble people and start a parade on time. Everyone’s time is synchronized with Pacquiao’s in the ring. A knockout before the 12 rounds can mean an early start. The mood of the parade will depend on the outcome of the bout. The crowd will be noisy but whether it’s angry-noisy or happy-noisy, who knows.
Everytime Pacquiao fights in the ring, Pinoys adjust their schedules to see him box his opponent to a pulp. The streets are empty and everyone finds a spot and a medium to watch the fight. In remote areas where TV and Internet are not as accessible, the radio keeps everyone abreast of the punches Pacquiao has thrown and received.
This rematch better be worth the intentional delay of the parade, an unprecedented one in the history of Davao City.
