Monday, November 20, 2006 Maxey: In the news By Ram Maxey Bar None
FORMER Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, after two decades of trying to go down in Philippine history as the country's No. 1 coup d'etat expert (?), says he had actually wanted to put an end to his swashbuckling days and lead a quiet life.
Now that he has been arrested and faces trial for coup d'etat and rebellion charges in connection with the failed July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, he ought to pray that he gets convicted pronto so he can realize his wish of a quiet life. By spending the rest of his days behind bars, certainly life can't get any quieter than that, can it?
It has been said that a woman is usually behind the success of a man. Honasan can say amen to that. Behind his successful arrest is a woman. By the way, is it true that he was surprised by his captors literally with his pants down? Oh, well. Any man has every right to go to bed without his pants on. Sometimes they get in the way of serious business.
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Sunday's much-ballyhooed "The Grand Finale" between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales in Las Vegas turned out to be not so grand after all. It took the Pacman just three rounds to settle the question as to which of them is the better fighter.
As usual, Pacman was too modest to predict the outcome in a pre-fight interview. While he said he would try his very best to win, in the same breath he hoped neither fighter would get really hurt. Just what did he mean by that? When the bell sounded to start the first round, both fighters met in the center of the ring and proceeded to hurt each other.
Pacquiao's victory was worth $3 million. One million dollars per round, exclusive of what he will earn from pay-per-view television coverage. Not bad for a former bakery worker in General Santos City. In contrast, I wonder how much his former boss, the bakery owner, earns from his business and the shrinking pan de sal.
Morales, dubbed El Terrible, had earlier derided Pacquiao's fighting style as one-dimensional and nothing else but "punch, punch, punch". Well, isn't that what boxing is all about, punching? After being knocked down for the third time in Sunday's fight, El Terrible may have lost the fight, but his purse of
$2,750,000 means he earned something like $916,666.667 per round. While his Mexican fans are grieving over his loss, Morales will be laughing all the way to the bank.
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I was at The Marco Polo last Wednesday where a group of riders and their big bikes was introduced to members of media during the Club 888 press forum. Some of the riders had come from as far away as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The motorcycle enthusiasts were embarking on a unique three-day "Mindanao Ride For Peace" to various towns and cities of the region. Led by members of Davao City's On Any Sunday Riders Club, the large group of some 70 riders left Thursday, expecting to add more riders to their caravanserai in every town they passed along the way.
The multi-nation group of riders' show of unity in the pursuit of peace in the region is just one more sign of growing weariness in people over the seeming endless state of anxiety, fear and uncertainty spawned by terror groups which have been imposing their own brand of "peace" on innocent people. It's called Peace of the Graveyard.
