Think years on the
GMA cases

Manny Pacquiao came back yesterday and this time his arrival was low-key, without the usual fanfare starting from the airport, up to the motorcade around Manila to enable his fans to see him and applaud him. He also did not look as triumphant as in those other arrivals, although he tried to keep smiling even while explaining how such things as his non-knockout of Juan Manuel Marquez did not happen.

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But maybe it was the Pacman himself who had asked for the simple reception. I noted, though, that he did not fail to proceed to the Quiapo Church, as is his wont, to pray and give thanks for his victory, controversial as it may have appeared to some. In that way, Manny Pacquiao has always been consistent. Even his act of rushing to his corner to pray right after the fight, is also typical of him.

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But when he spoke at the airport and thanked those who supported him with prayers, thousands of Filipinos appreciated him because they did do that: pray for him. Even my brother, Andy L., who was at ringside at the MGM Grand during the fight, confessed that he got scared in the middle of rounds and also started praying for Manny. Aside from his support for a friend, he was also afraid that his relatives in Silay, who had been teasing him before he left that he might be blamed if Pacquiao lost, this being his first actual attendance at the Pacman’s fights, would never let him forget it. And his prayers were answered, Manny won.

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However, more and more does the rumor that the Pacman was not in the proper mental and emotional state during the fight seem to be not just chismis. Sports and other columnists in the Manila dailies cannot seem to drop the issue, and some even specify the make of the cellphones that had reportedly been thrown around. Hmmm… By the way, many were amazed at the transformation of his wife Jinkee, who no longer looks as she did in previous fights of her hubby. However, many also say that now, her twin, Janet, looks more “natural” and prettier.

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It is getting tiresome already, having to read and watch the news where the case of the former president continues to hog all the discussions and reports. But then, this is a cause célèbre, so we have to bear with it. Just be warned that this is not going to end in a week or a month, or even a year. More and more charges are being readied against former President Gloria Arroyo, and everytime one more is filed, we go through this again. After all, this is a former president’s daughter, and a president herself who is the major character.

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At last, however, we hear from the Philippine Medical Association the stand of the group on the question of whether or not local doctors have the skills to deal with the ailment of the former president which her family, and their lawyers imply could not be treated anywhere else but in hospitals in such countries as Singapore, the United States, Austria, Germany and Spain. Yesterday the PMA president was on TV, obviously smarting from the slur on their capabilities, and even offered to bring in specialists themselves to confirm their conclusions on the case of the former president.

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But the lawyer, who stressed that he represents her husband, but keeps on giving statements, a certain Topacio, who sounds more like a doctor himself than an attorney, promptly nixed that, saying they can’t do it without the consent of the patient, who, he had earlier said, was not his client. In other words, nobody, nobody but a foreign doc will do. Meanwhile, GMA herself is said to be depressed, lacks appetite, and losing more weight, as who wouldn’t with such problems confronting you?

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Oh, today is the second anniversary of the still unresolved Ampatuan Massacre case where 52 human beings were slaughtered in what is generally perceived as a truly “politically motivated” mass murder. I was in New York that day and just starting lunch when my niece, Peachy Tadiar, suddenly stood up to check the internet and came back looking shocked. “There was a massacre in Mindanao”, she said. “The news said 26 people were killed”. The number of fatalities grew by the minute, and we quite lost our appetites. As for the case against the perpetrators, we can only say, like the high priest in the Old Testament: “How long, Lord God, How long!”

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I must apologize for a boo-boo in yesterday’s column. How could I have written “Burma” when I was thinking about Vietnam that was in second place at the SEAG Saturday? The latest however, is that Thailand had dislodged Vietnam for second, but the Philippines was consistent, we stuck to the end at sixth.*

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