Pinoy pride takes a beating

TAIWAN—Organizers of the “Joint Celebration of the 114th Philippine Independence Day and Migrant Workers’ Day” here had what they thought was a brilliant idea. Since the celebration coincided with the bout pitting Manny Pacquiao against Timothy Bradley, they planned to air the live coverage of the fight at the Xin Zhuang Sports Center in New Taipei City.

Most Filipinos, in the Philippines and abroad, normally drop everything to view a Pacquiao fight and loudly cheer on the Pacman. So if they were to get enough workers at the celebration, officials with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) resigned themselves to the inevitable and decided to use the match as a come-on.

What they didn’t count on was Pacquiao losing.

“It has certainly dampened everyone’s spirits,” said local labor representative Reydeluz Conferido, “but the show has to go on.”

You’d think that with the “National Fist” going down in defeat (even if by decision), the organizers would be constrained from banking once more on the Pinoy competitive spirit. But competition was what the organizers had in mind: an exhibition match between two teams of Taiwan-based Filipino workers, a cheer dance contest among four teams of women factory workers, and the highlight—a “celebrity match” between a team of Taiwanese media stars and “Team Kalayaan,” composed of Filipino celebrities, led by former professional player-turned-coach Alvin Patrimonio, and including TV stars and comedians, and present and past pro players.

The good news is that the Filipino stars won, by a close margin of three points, and in a game that was in parts comedy routine, celebrity mugging and serious basketball. Comedians Bayani Agbayani and Gene Padilla provided much of the comic relief, pairing at times with a balding Taiwanese sports commentator who gamely played along with their antics. Providing heartthrob appeal were player, commercial model and TV host Chris Tiu, and actors Joross Gamboa, Jason Abalos, and Jestoni Alarcon.

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Providing occasions for workers to gather and develop a sense of camaraderie is one of the major missions that Meco has assigned to itself, aware that the thousands of Filipino workers, who are very much in demand by Taiwanese factories, need some relief from the daily grind and the challenge of earning enough money to send home.

Also getting the message are various businesses catering to the migrant worker market, from companies providing remittance services, cell phone and phone card marketers, banks, to government agencies like SSS and Pag-Ibig. These firms had rented booths at the sports center, hoping to attract new customers and forge new deals in between the various contests and the exciting raffle draws.

In addition, there is “Ugnayan,” a Filipino migrant center, managed by Catholic priest Fr. Joylito Tajonera, where workers can gather, learn new skills, and seek spiritual solace. In fact, Father Joylito confessed to being torn during the cheer dance competition, as three of the four competing teams were allied with the center. We kidded him that he may have choreographed the more sexy routines of some teams.

Indeed, the work of Meco is ever more a combination of welfare, diplomacy and social cohesion, looking after the thousands of Filipino workers who are very much desired and welcomed by employers, while balancing national interests and the demands of foreign relations.

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Now to more prosaic concerns.

Pacquiao’s loss to Bradley has no doubt generated a lot of heat, and hopefully light, among Filipinos. I can just imagine how our national mood dropped several notches when the judges’ decision was announced. I must be among the very few Filipinos who missed the fight, since I was on my way to Taipei while the bout was going on. (I also missed the fairly strong earthquake that hit Taipei in the early morning hours, which, said those who experienced it, sent chandeliers swaying wildly.)

Anyway, so worked up was my friend Ruffy Ignacio all the way in Seattle that he immediately e-mailed me an analysis (made together with his good friend JP Paredes) of what “really took place” in the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. His main thesis: Pacquiao’s defeat was deliberate and designed to whet the boxing world’s appetite for a rematch.

“The rematch only becomes logical if Pacquiao lost and not if Bradley lost because if Bradley lost, the logical next match should be (Floyd) Mayweather,” writes Ruffy.

The “basic issue,” he says, “is the money,” although conceding that it would be most difficult to trace the money trail of any side bets or underhanded gambling. But Pacquiao, with or without his knowledge, says Ruffy, seems to have been set-up, beginning with the disclosure that he had watched a basketball game and had to go on a treadmill to ease the cramps on his legs, delaying the airing of the fight.

“The key here is the judges,” writes Ruffy. “They are the weakest link in the chain. They had to get judges with bad records of ‘biased’ judging. Hence this will simply be one of those biased judgments that could no longer be recalled.”

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Even Bradley himself, says Ruffy, seemed to have doubts about his win. He is reported to have looked at the tapes of the fight to see if he really won the fight, and even his wife didn’t appear all that convinced of his victory.

So what happened here? I haven’t watched the fight, so I can’t tell. But I can tell how the Filipino spirit—in the Philippines and abroad—has been dampened, if not brought down a few notches. We celebrate our Independence Day today, by the way. Guess we have to look for other sources of Pinoy pride today, now that our Great Hope from Sarangani has been shown to have feet of clay.