Monday, March 17, 2008 Mongaya: Still unfinished By Anol Mongaya Panahom
A KNOCKOUT would have been a convincing statement of Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquaio’s dominance but Juan Manuel Marquez was tough, a better counter-puncher, and able to recover quickly after absorbing knockout blows.
Still, the split decision showed that independent judges think Pacman had the upper hand during the 12-rounder and deserving of the World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight title though the Marquez camp think differently.
“They took away the victory from me even if I won clearly,” Marquez protested during a press conference after the fight.
Well, I think the Pacquiao-Marquez war is still unfinished business even after the second fight that should have settled who is better. Expect Pacquiao-Marquez III soon.
***
The world seemed to stop as people huddled around television sets to watch the exciting Pacquiao-Marquez fight yesterday morning.
Even Palm Sunday masses were not spared. Some people I know attended the afternoon mass after the fight.
In Talisay, a friend told me yesterday, a resident who died recently was supposed to be buried yesterday. However his family decided on an earlier date for the burial. They buried him last Saturday.
This was after worried relatives and friends asked for an earlier burial so they could watch the Pacquiao-Marquez fight without a hitch Sunday.
***
Poor souls who cannot afford or had no friends who had pay-per-view of the Pacquiao-Marquez bout had to make do watching the delayed telecast over GMA 7 yesterday.
Before, the delay in the telecast was only around an hour. When we know from the live telecast who the winner was, the delayed telecast is already showing the first rounds of the fight.
But when I arrived at the house yesterday after watching the live telecast in a friend’s house at the Poblacion in Talisay City, the delayed telecast was still showing an earlier fight.
Later in the afternoon, a friend who contented himself with the delayed telecast asked if it was true that the Pacman won. This was already 3 p.m.
All I can say is: “Nagkalood ang kadaghan sa mga commercial.”
***
Cebuanos will have their chance of hearing Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada live during his visit to Cebu today. The invitation I received mentioned he would speak before USC students at 10 in the morning.
But I think he should have been here earlier.
Today is the last day of classes in USC. In Cebu, most students are already thinking of summer or graduation while the faithful are readying themselves for the Holy Days. Today is not the best day for whipping up a protest mood in largely pro-GMA Cebu.
Nonetheless, I think we deserve the chance to see Lozada in person and see for ourselves who is this guy who is supposedly telling the truth in the NBN-ZTE controversy.
Whether the issue should lead to the resignation of President Arroyo or not, I believe more important is the filing of a case and proving the cases in court.
***
Sen. Mar Roxas talked about the need to expose the truth when he visited Cebu last week. However, he clearly was not interested in the resignation of President Arroyo as he proceeded to talk about his availability as presidential candidate in 2010.
A friend who used to work for an opposition senator sent an e-mail expressing surprise regarding the mix of supporters in the Roxas camp. He recognized erstwhile GMA supporters now actively helping Roxas whom he thought should be promoting the candidacy of Vice President Noli de Castro.
No I don’t think these people are pushing GMA’s interest in the Roxas camp. This only reflects the reality of her being a lame duck come 2010. Despite the show of support now, people around the President will soon be supporting different bets for Malacañang. A blessing by GMA in 2010 will only be deadweight bringing the candidate down.
As of now, Senator Roxas seems to be the frontrunner in the 2010 race with the find of financial supporters he has (guess who arranged his sortie to Balamban) he has.
Still, I think he needs to work more on building his grassroots organization in the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao. He should also learn from the mistake of the late Fernando Poe Jr., who largely ignored political organizing in Cebu.
(Check out my blog “In Between Columns” at anol.blogs.friendster.com/anols_blog)
