SO MOMMY Dionesia Pacquiao stole the show and sprinkled humor in an otherwise intense boxing match.
But we can learn a lot as a people just by observing this mother-son dynamics. Admit it, Mommy Dionesia would have made all other kids rolling their eyes in shame had they been their mother. But no, Manny simply smiles and even gives way to her antics.
The mom, on the other hand, basks in her son’s successes and is never ashamed of going into hysterics just to show her support for her son; including the weird cheer-dance she was doing by the ringside with her rosary beads, her novena card, and her medallion inside a plastic packet.
Pacquiao’s mom is a parody of sorts, underlining the worst and the best of what mothers are. But that’s how we appreciate things best, through lampoons, through satire, and even sitcoms. Didn’t two generations learned about life watching Dely Atay-atayan castigating Dolphy, with “Kaya ikaw John, magsumikap ka!!!” She did this over and over again for more than a decade in the long-running television sitcom John ‘n Marsha.
Mommy Dionesia is like John Puruntong’s mother-in-law, except that… this is real life.
Manny is now 35, and we know he has to give up the ring very soon if only he can enjoy the life he has created through suffering punches since he was 15. Mommy Dionesia will in a few years become just a memory that can elicit a chuckle or two. But while she’s hogging the limelight with gusto, let us appreciate her for the caricature that she paints for all of us of a mother’s love. Lessons in life, after all, are best learned with a load of humor and a spoonful of sugar.