THE first stories I heard about Muhammad Ali came from my father and uncles. That happened when I was still in high school before, during, and after “Thrilla in Manila.”
I think what we were watching then was a delayed telecast in 1975 though the match was said to be a first for HBO live globally. But the agitated extended Nacorda family at the house of Lolo Indong in Basak-Pardo was at the sala with all eyes glued at the television set.
Ali was the greatest, I remember all of them saying as we watched two boxers–Ali and Smokin Joe Frazier–nearly killing each other on the ring.
More than four decades later, I agree Ali was the greatest. I never saw a boxing match as exciting and brutal as that. Too
bad, too much banging on his head soon gave him Parkinson’s Disease.
Still, he lived long and did other great things other than box. Thanks Muhammad Ali.
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Loyalists are proud that it was the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife who brought “Thrilla in Manila” to the Philippines. In a way, it was a propaganda coup for the dictatorship. Marcos sought to divert attention from the brewing turmoil three years after he declared martial law (1972) when he closed down Congress and jailed all his political dissenters.
We were entertained alright. Marcos felt the need to indulge us with the Interim Batasang Pambansa elections only in 1978.
I’m just sad many in my generation could remember how Ali was barely standing himself when Frazier’s corner conceded the fight before the 15th and final round could start. But they barely remember how Marcos rigged the 1978 elections.
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Perhaps, I am just flabbergasted that President-elect Rody Duterte would bury Da Apo at the Libingan ng Bayani. I do not agree with such reasons as “Marcos deserves the burial being a soldier” and “national unity.”
One, granting the dictator was a soldier. But he died in disgrace. Does a disgraced soldier deserve burial at the Libingan ng Bayani?
Two, the hero’s burial might appease the Marcoses in return for the votes of the so-called Solid North. But it insults the real heroes and their surviving families. It insults our heroes who died in the fight to oust the Marcos dictatorship. It definitely is a wrong move, to say the least, if President-elect Duterte’s objective is national unity.
Come to think of it, the anti-Bongbong Marcos votes are not just those that made Leni Robredo win the vice presidential race.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Chiz Escudero presented themselves as anti-Marcos during the vice presidential debates.
Perhaps, our incoming president should rethink his position on this very divisive issue.
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Several columns ago, I talked about the political wisdom showed by Duterte’s national campaign manager Jun Evasco when he came over to meet the so-called Cebu provincial DCTs, or Duterte Campaign Team, and the Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña.
The DCT was the campaign backbone that coordinated with the Garcia machinery in the province. Osmeña was the central figure in the “Let’s DO (Duterte-Osmeña) It” movement that helped convert Digong’s popularity into votes in Cebu City. Aside from house-to-house campaigning, the DO movement provided the precinct watchers for Duterte in Cebu City voting centers.
Over lunch at the Marriot Hotel, Evasco and Osmeña talked about the campaign against illegal drugs in Cebu. I would not be surprised that, among others, they also exchanged notes on the regional anti-drugs picture and Banacon island.
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Reporters covering the DCTs and Osmeña know that they are two different entities. Thus, I was surprised when media sympathizers of Michael Dino, the presumptive presidential assistant for Visayas, began hitting Osmeña for a manifesto signed by the DCTs.
Worse, Cebu City barangay leaders identified with Team Rama and Vice President Jojo Binay rushed to Dino’s aid, not his supposed friends in the broad Duterte campaign machinery in Cebu.
A week earlier, I was taken aback when Dino’s people chose to attack online Duterte leaders like a known lady doctor who complained of cyberbullying at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
I expected Dino to prudently move around and build bridges with local stakeholders starting with election campaign allies. Instead, his people threw the first stones. Why?
I just cannot fathom yet why they are the ones picking a fight. Look, the tit-for-tat in local media, even with the expressions of support from local Binay leaders, is not exactly flattering to somebody projecting himself as Duterte’s man here.
(@anol_cebu in Twitter)