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Monday, April 16, 2007
Townmates cheer Pacman's victory, 'hero's welcome' readied
GENERAL SANTOS -- The hometown crowd roared in jubilation when Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao retained his international WBC Super Featherweight title with an eighth-round knockout of Jorge Solis.
The streets essentially turned empty of vehicles as residents watched their townmate from their television sets, in cafeterias and at the Lagao gymnasium, where a giant television screen was set-up by the City Government.
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At the multi-million-peso mansion of Pacquiao in Barangay Lagao, his mother, Dionisia, beamed with pride with her son's astounding victory.
"First of all, I'd like to thank the Lord (for guiding my son into victory). He (Lord) did not fail me," said Mrs. Pacquiao, who was praying as the fight progressed.
"I'm very proud of Manny," the mother said, adding her son "inherited his boxing prowess from her."
Pacquiao said he had not asked anything from his son prior to the fight. "He has given me almost everything, I'm not asking anything from him this time."
The boxer had given her mother a car and a house from his previous bouts, as well as other gifts to his other relatives.
Pacquiao suffered a cut in his eyebrow due to an accidental head butt, but Mrs. Pacquiao was thankful that nothing worse had happened to her son in his fight in the United States.
General Santos Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. said the City Government is preparing a hero's welcome for the boxer once he comes home here.
Pacquiao is seeking under the administration party the first congressional district seat of South Cotabato held by re-electionist and opposition stalwart Representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio, partymate of Acharon.
"There will be a heros' welcome for Manny. But we will not allow politics to color the event," Acharon said.
Last month, Acharon was reported to have suggested that the usual hero's welcome would not be feted to the boxer once he comes back due to his foray into the political arena. But this was quickly denied by Acharon.
Ernie Quisay, chief of staff of the city mayor's office, said Pacquiao is slated to arrive in this city on April 18.
"The City Government will be officially feting Pacman with the hero's welcome. We're still coordinating with his family if he comes back in a commercial or private plane," he said.
"But there would be no party for him from the City Government, unlike before. His political supporters will be the one who will honor him with either a lunch or dinner party," Quisay added.
Quisay, who is coordinating the City Government's welcome celebration for the boxer, said Acharon and other local officials under the AIM party would not join the motorcade of Pacquiao from the airport to the city proper if senatoriables from the administration camp would be in the convoy.
"The situation has changed from our past welcomes because of his entry into politics," Quisay said.
In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has urged Filipinos to use Pacquiao's victory over Jorge Solis as an inspiration to battle poverty and other social ills.
Manny Pacquiao, who struggled through the opening five rounds and a cut from a head butt in the sixth, stopped Solis with a powerful right hand in the eighth round Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas, delivering the Mexican slugger's first loss in 35 fights.
"Manny stands for the dream of every Filipino in the ring of life and the arena of the future," Arroyo said.
"We must keep up the fight and win in all fronts - in physical prowess, in the excellence of our skills, in the will to overcome the foes of poverty and injustice," Arroyo said. (Sun.Star General Santos/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (April 16, 2007 issue)
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