Again, Pacquiao

There are three matters I’d like to comment on, but Pacquiao comes first because everybody is just agog over his masterly punishment of Algieri. Before the fight I was amazed by the impressive symmetry and size of Algieri’s arms and chest. Of course, I knew of his reputation as a powerful puncher. Algieri was about 4 inches taller than Pacquiao and with a longer reach. But in front of a master like Pacquiao, Algieri was prancing around like a scared rabbit. Maybe, for the first time in his career, the guy looked clumsy.

Anyway, something funny happened to me, as the TV screen in a resto bar at the triangle showed the round in which Pacquiao appeared against a Chinese looking guy. They danced around. I was surprised that Pacquiao was not as frisky as usual. The fighters clinched. Pacquiao hit the canvas. Holy angels! The fight went on with Pacquiao being punished by his opponent, until the merciful final bell, Pacquiao looking like a wreck of a boxer and his opponent smiling in apparent victory.

The reader will probably have seen this episode. The fight was not really the Pacquiao-Algieri event but the one immediately before the main fight. It’s just for a while I thought that “Pacquiao” got beaten and battered. The fact is he was a Pacquiao look-alike boxer-- the hair, the head shape, even the beard. Pacquiao’s look- alike was a Thai fighter who had face and beard of Pacquiao but not his ability.

Pacquiao’s victory needs no elaborate comment. Clearly, Algieri is not in his class. The odds of the odds-makers who are presumed to be experts on comparative ability puts it a 7-1 in favor of Pacquiao. As it turned out the prediction is accurate.

Ho, hum!

The Maguindanao Massacre

We go to another matter. The 5 year old Maguindanao Massacre case, I do not have to go to the total number who were killed, but the number of journalists who were liquidated is 32. Negros journalists headed by the Negros Press Club have lighted candles of remembrance for their slain buddies, 2 from this island. Even in far away Baguio newsmen have lighted candles of commemorations.

There were others

Meanwhile an important witness for the prosecution, the former driver of Ampatuan Jr. was gunned down recently although probably his testimony is preserved in the judicial records since it is said that the prosecution has already adduced its evidence and that now it is the turn of the defense to present their witnesses.

But then there are the high-priced and presumably brilliant lawyers whose battle-cry will be delay. There will be motions and motions, reconsiderations and all the usual legal weapons in their arsenal. Sec. de Lima has assured the public that the court will decide before P-Noy leaves office in 2016. (That is, not to count the process of appeals).

Incidentally, very recently, after 18 long years the final judgment of conviction become a reality for the operators of a night-club that burned down in Quezon City which claimed about 162 lives. As usual there was no adequate exit when the fire gutted the building. This was the Ozone Fire. (Others convicted were building officers or officials of Quezon City who failed or refused to enforce the Building Code.)

The Maguindanao massacre is without precedent in this country. The cold-bloodedness, the use of government earth-movers to dig the graves of the victims is indicative of the horrific mindset of the alleged killers, the Ampatuans and their lackeys. This has emphasized the country’s reputation as one of the most dangerous places for journalists and newsmen in the whole world.

We will probably wait for November of 2015 for another round of commemorative lighting of candles.

Again, the Spratlys

For the first time ever, one of the small atolls in the disputed Spratly Islands will become (most probably) an airstrip. The owner? China. The nature? Most probably a military, air and naval, installation. The claimants to the Spratlys: Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines. The difference is that China aside from it’s claim over the Spratlys is actually trying to occupy it by a process of land reclamation, the fourth within the last 12 to 18 months, the authoritative journal IHS Jane reported.

The U.S. has called for a stop to the Chinese activities in the South China Sea (part of which is called Philippine Sea) but sources said that China’s official line is that it can build whatever it wants to in the “South China Sea.” As has been said before, South China Sea can become a Chinese Lake.

It is apparent that the Chinese game plan is to make it’s presence felt in the South China Sea. The Chinese President has said that China will never use force in dealing with stalk holders in the area. Using water hoses is not force? And trying to starve Filipino soldiers living a stranded boat in a Spratly atoll is a peculiar way of using force.

Happy Thanks Giving!*

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