Pacquiao’s legendary generosity

By Al S. Mendoza

 

 

NOT only is Manny Pacquiao’s boxing prowess legendary.

His generosity, too.

That became more pronounced after he became world champion some 20 or so years ago.

Always, he would share his winnings to anyone, including complete strangers.

Mostly, he would be generous to everybody, doing it fairly and equitably so that no one could complain.

But he’d be happiest if he could give more to the needy.

He has but one reason:  “I know how it is to be poor.  Been there.”

As a kid, he sold rice cakes with his mother, Dionisia.

As a teener still below five feet, he’d go fishing into the open sea.

He would sell his catch, separating a few for the family meal.

When he became so rich with his billions of winnings in boxing (he has earned eight world titles), Pacquiao continued giving to anyone—even those who didn’t ask.

A lot of times he offered me tickets to his fights—even plane tickets.

To be honest, I did accept.  Just once.

He offered four tickets to the Pacquiao-Algieri fight in Macau in 2014.

Have I used the tickets?

No.  I gave two tickets to my nephew, only because my nephew was “dying to see Macau.”

The other two I declined.

I watched the Pacquiao-Algieri fight on PPV in Baguio City’s Baguio Country Club.

Pacquiao, when he was still into gambling, would virtually throw away money to everyone in the crowd.

In many of his fabled big time billiard games, he’d squander millions.

Hustlers feasted on his pride.

In rare times that Pacquiao would win in billiards, he’d be so overwhelmed with joy that he’d give away his winnings to one and all watching.

Many times, he’d end up penniless, happy to see everybody happy.

He did that too in his cockfight binges.

But even as he had stopped gambling, his gift-giving has not stopped.

And so in the Pacquiao-Vargas fight that he won by unanimous decision, Pacquiao distributed a lot of fight tickets and plane tickets as well for Las Vegas.

One of his beneficiaries was Bato dela Rosa, the country’s No. 1 policeman.

For this, Bato had angered the Ombudsman, who threatened to punish Bato for “impropriety.”

The Ombudsman said a rule prohibits government officials to receive gifts.

Oh, yeah?

But if the Ombudsman is serious, hundreds of congressmen and senators would face punishment, too.

They’d been given tickets by Pacquiao a lot of times from 2003 to 2016.

Said Ping Lacson:  “Show me a policeman who hasn’t received a gift in his lifetime.”

Likewise, Digong had said Bato did nothing wrong—in effect freeing the General of culpability.

And if we go by the letter of the law—if it existed at all—even the giver deserves punishment, too.

Can the Ombudsman afford to also sanction Pacquiao?

Doing that, the Ombudsman could be courting the ire of Pacquiao’s millions of fans.

Careful, Madame Ombudsman.

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