Alfred McCoy’s classic description of Philippine politics—as “an anarchy of families”—was coined in the early 1990s, but two decades later it’s even more apt and true. The results of the 2013 midterm polls have only confirmed that, while guns, goons and gold continue to play a huge part in how this country elects its leaders, a fourth element—bloodline—has the strongest grip of all on the system.
Allow me to tie up some loose ends from 2012, stories and letters which have nagged at me for some time. Let me start with the most recent.
IS BOXING icon Manny Paquiao a goner? From the looks of it, since he shifted to and embraced a new religion, a string of bad luck has been hounding him.
It’s been a December that we Filipinos won’t soon forget.
IT IS apparent you are in a highly confused state. Therefore, as one who is pleased—not happy, just pleased—that you lost your last two fights, may I offer a Christian point of view for you to consider? First off, you wanted to be a boxer, obviously worked awfully hard to get to the top, and [...]
I couldn’t believe the sight of so many of our coconut trees uprooted by supertyphoon “Pablo.” I couldn’t believe either the sight of our dear Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez. It seems the wrath of nature did not just destroy our coconut trees, it also felled our most loved and respected boxing icon.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines deplores the attack on a photojournalist by Manny Pacquiao’s assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez and adviser Michael Koncz, after the boxing champion’s recent loss to Juan Manuel Marquez.
As a boxing fan, I am proud that Manny Pacquiao did a good job in his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez even though he lost. Pacquiao admitted his carelessness, which is very unpretentious for him to say.
My first thought was that they were text jokes, and if so the joke was on them since they had just texted someone out of the country. But no, they weren’t jokes at all, they were perfectly serious.
HE WAS a big lean copper spring, tightened and retightened through weeks of training until he was one pregnant package of coiled venom… And the spring, tormented with tension, suddenly burst with one brazen spang of activity.”
THERE ARE a lot of weeping and hand-wringing and excuses in the Philippines over the loss of Manny Pacquiao to Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez via a 6th-round knockout last Sunday. The excuses range from the religious (it’s because Manny changed his religion, didn’t wear a rosary around his neck and didn’t pray in his corner before the fight), to the speculative (Marquez used performance-enhancing drugs as evidenced by his bigger muscles) to luck (it was a lucky punch), etc., etc.
THE PUNCH that wiped out Pacquiao wiped out the Pinoy.
