OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT
Diwa C. Guinigundo
This broadsheet bannered last Monday that defeated Senator Manny Pacquiao was still the “People’s Champ.” Despite his disheartening loss to Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugas who retained his super WBA welterweight crown, Pacquiao remained the crowd favorite.
While analysts like Nissi Icasiano commented that “all the stars and all the dots lined up for him to be in that position and experience that glorious moment,” Ugas had to give it to the People’s Champ: His boxing legacy did not go down with him. Not a decibel was lost from the time he stepped into the ring before the fight, until the magnanimous in him shone during the brief interview after the fight.
Pacquiao declared “I did my best tonight but my best wasn’t good enough. Tonight, no excuses.”
But seeking a rematch with either Ugas, or perhaps Errol Spence, who is the unified IBF and WBC welterweight world champion, is not the unfinished business of the People’s Champ.
It is how he would execute his acceptance of President Duterte’s challenge to prove that corruption thrives in his government.
On his return, Pacman should substantiate his claim before he flew to Vegas that the DOH, DSWD, DENR and the DOE are linked to corruption. He promised he would submit all documentary evidence he gathered from different sources to the Palace and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
Pacquiao ought to do this to turn the tables on the President who threatened him that if he failed, he would be denounced as a liar. Pacman retorted that he has evidence to prove his point, and that he is neither corrupt nor a liar. He reminded the Palace that it was actually the President himself “who acknowledged the nation’s persisting corruption problem in a speech in October last year.”
It will be the biggest fight for Pacquiao to show proof that some public agencies are not above Caesar’s wife. This is the main event because it would demonstrate his courage of heart to do what is right especially in the Scriptural sense.
James 4:17 reminds him: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Pacman was derided by the President many times for his alleged inexperience and incompetence. The irony is that Pacquiao continued to clarify that he was not attacking the President but instead his exposé was actually in support of the government’s anti-corruption drive.
Right and wrong.
It is right because if he could prove some agencies are engaged in malfeasance and corrective actions are undertaken, better delivery of public services would be ensured. If the government is sincere, it should support the People’s Champ instead of threatening him.
It is wrong because based on how some public officials responded, what the People’s Champ disclosed before his fight could uncover cans and cans of worms.This is not good for the May 2022 election.
Pacquiao should be clear which side he is on. Will he continue to slug it out if bad governance extends beyond the President’s cabinet? We are talking here of public office being a public trust.
Since Pacquiao left for his boxing commitment, the COA has taken the cudgel to uphold its constitutional mandate and called to task various government agencies including the DOH, DOTr, DOLE, TESDA and numerous others to explain its findings of potential corruption.
Yet the media reported that even before any kind of investigation took off the ground, the President had virtually exonerated the DOH head even at his own expense. He even warned public servants from addressing COA’s findings which he believed should not have been published, forgetting that it was perfectly within COA’s authority to define its auditing rules and protocols.
Maintaining his original position is therefore untenable, and Pacman should realize it early. Corruption, if true and proven, is like water; it would seek its own level. No one can predict how high it goes up, or how low it goes down.
Leo Tolstoy wrote: “Since corrupt people unite among themselves to constitute a force, then honest people must do the same,”
Lee Kuan Yewstood for integrity when he and his People’s Action Party were still establishing Singapore. He implemented big pay adjustments of public servants to discourage corruption. But it was clear there are some things money cannot buy like morals and integrity. One cabinet minister was caught in a corruption scandal but Lee stood firm, not behind him, but against him and approved his investigation until he committed suicide.
Yes, the People’s Champ has truly inspired the Filipino people that there is no limit to human labor as long as one puts his mind into it. Pacquiao has stopped traffic, prevented crimes, and caused ceasefire among the rebels and government troops on Sundays that he fought his 72 fights. He is no God to have performed these signs and wonders, yet people still consider him their hero, someone to always look up to.
It is up to Pacquiao if he would roll up his sleeves and pick up where he left off before Ugas. This could be a game changer for his political plans, but upholding good governance is just a good start. That would not make him Plato’s philosopher king — and that is precisely the point. There are more things on the plate like championing human rights, pandemic management, economic recovery and territorial integrity.
As a boxer at 42, “this could be it,” as Freddie Roach would predict. As a politician at 42, he could have three more decades to learn statecraft and to nurture fully his idea of public service: “…being president of a country entails a lot of work and should be given much thought.”