Isn’t it ironic that Manny Pacquiao, who has been considered a “unifier” of the Filipino people, is now the cause of squabbling in the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Health Secretary Francisco Duque, who has the responsibility of preventing the entry of the swine flu (A-H1N1) virus, wants Pacquiao to postpone his homecoming until health authorities are sure he and everybody in his huge entourage are not harboring the virus. This is to prevent the possible spread of the virus among the hordes of Filipinos who would welcome him and watch his motorcade upon arrival.

But Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, considered the patron of Pacquiao, wants his protégé to come home as originally scheduled, which is Friday, to a triumphal welcome.

“He is healthier than most of us,” Atienza said. “He could be the healthiest Filipino now.”

Even Malacañang wants the Pacman to delay his homecoming. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita himself called Pacquiao to tell him that the President will receive him at Malacañang on May 11. And like the politician that the boxer wants to be, Pacquiao replied that he would have to “consult his entourage.”

The Palace said it is upon the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO), but it is understandable why Ms Arroyo does not want to shake hands with Pacman just yet. The virus is spread through handshakes, hugging and other close contacts.

Malacañang wants Pacquiao and his entourage to stay in their hotel rooms in Los Angeles and limit their visitors for at least five days before coming home—a sort of self-quarantine. That is the time (five days) for an infected person to show symptoms of the swine flu. If there are no symptoms after five days, that means the person is free of the disease.

My point is, what is happening to us Filipinos? A boxer knocks out an over-the-hill fighter in a boxing bout and suddenly a transformation comes to all of us. Suddenly, Pacquiao is like a god adored and worshipped by everybody and we have to tiptoe around him. Officials whose duty and responsibility is to prevent the spread of the swine flu have to “request” him to postpone his homecoming to prevent the possible entry of the virus through him and his sizable entourage.

Pacquiao is a boxing hero, yes, but the safety and welfare of 80 million Filipinos is more important than the ego and convenience of one boxer. Why do our health secretary and Malacañang itself have to plead with him to delay his coming home? Why don’t we quarantine him like everybody else who enters the country through the air and seaports? It is for his own good, that of his own family, his future constituents in Sarangani, and the rest of the Filipinos.

The US government did not treat Muhammad Ali, an infinitely greater boxer, with kid gloves when he refused to be drafted into the US Army as the law required him to do, although he had a good reason for refusing. The boxing commission stripped him of his heavyweight title. But Filipinos are suckers for flash-in-the-pan heroes, like Senators Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla on whom we are wasting millions of pesos of precious taxpayers’ money.

As for Pacquiao’s ambition to go into politics, I will not join the chorus urging him to concentrate on boxing where he is good at and not to jump into the mud of politics. This is a free country and anybody who wants to enter politics and make a fool of himself is free to do so. Pacquiao wants to be called a congressman or governor or mayor? Let him. He will learn his lesson soon enough.

But let me say that as a boxing icon, he has more prestige and honor than any congressman, governor or mayor. Today he is admired as a boxer, but when he becomes a congressman, people will curse him and call him a “thief,” “liar” and “corrupt.”

Of course, there are many people around him urging him to run. You know why? Because they know he has plenty of money, and when you run for public office, you have to dispense money generously, and those around him expect to get a generous portion of that money. Already, politicians from other parties are deserting their own parties to join Pacquiao’s fledgling party. That’s how politicians behave; they flock to wherever there is money.

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It is now clear that many pre-need firms operate like pyramiding companies. The firms pay their planholders with what they collect from new planholders. When collections from new suckers stop, the whole operation collapses. The firms cannot pay maturing plans, although the law requires them to have a trust fund sufficient to service all planholders.

The strange part is that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose duty it is to monitor all corporations, seems blissfully unaware of all these. It steps in only when the firm is about to collapse, which is like closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. By that time, it is too late. The money is already gone. And the planholders are left holding empty bags.

The painful part is that most planholders don’t buy plans voluntarily. They are persuaded by hordes of agents of the pre-need firms who happen to be relatives, friends and officemates. They believe the nice words and promises of their friends and relatives, and when the pre-need firm collapses, the pain is felt not only by the planholders but also by their friends and relatives. The latter are blamed by the planholders, and the latter feel responsible for the loss of the investments.

But strictly speaking, the agents are not to blame for the fiasco. They believed the words of executives of the company. They are also victims as much as the planholders.

The moral of the story is this: Do not believe everything you hear. Use your common sense.