Hidilyn, heroine for all seasons

By Al S. Mendoza

 

LOOK, Hidilyn Diaz has not only become an instant celebrity.

She has also transformed herself into a multi-millionaire.

Already richer by a law-mandated P5 million, the incentive was jacked up by obvious Hidilyn fans to more eye-popping figures.

First, it was President Duterte who pledged some more bonus for Hidilyn.

If it was P1 million or more, don’t be surprised.

The President is also a legend when it comes to generosity.

Ask around in Davao and you will know what I mean.

After Mr. Duterte’s kindly acts for Hidilyn came Manny Pacquiao’s own.

Like Digong, Pacquio tossed in an undisclosed amount into the laps of Hidilyn.

If it was P5 million or more, keep faith.

The billionaire boxer is also known for doling out virtual fortunes to even total strangers.

What more with Hidilyn, whose Olympic silver brought instant honors to the name Filipino?

Pacquiao has always been a sucker for sports heroism.

From what I gathered, so juicy was Manny’s additional reward to Hidilyn it drew angry barks from PacMan, Pacquiao’s famous dog.

PacMan, of course, is the most spoiled among the four-legged members in the much-pampered Pacquiao household.

Do you know that PacMan also travels first-class with his Boss each time the boxing icon is US-bound and back?

Hidilyn doesn’t have a dog. None yet.

And if she keeps it that way, fine.

She has grander pets, anyway, like building her own weightlifting gym ASAP.

She bared that even before added bonuses started pouring in like rain in the Indianapolis summertime.

I believe Pacquiao was touched by this—Hidilyn’s heart-tugging act of building a weightlifting gym a massive manifestation of her genuine gesture to love her sport to the core.

Already, Hidilyn’s silver, the third of the total 10 medals we had won in 92 years of Olympic participation since the 1924 Paris Games, glistens like gold.

With Hidilyn’s weightlifting gym soon to rise in her native Zamboanga, expect the sprouting of such facilities all across the archipelago in no time.

If her P5-million incentive might have already ballooned to P10 million or more, so much the better.

For all we know, she could be dreaming of erecting more weightlifting gyms.

So unselfish she seems to be that money isn’t everything to her.

It is weightlifting that drives her, as seen in the way she moves and acts.

What an exemplary lifter she is, indeed—a true-blue heroine of the Filipino race.

Indeed, Hidilyn is a great athlete not only for the present, but also for future generations.

Her legacy is worth emulating.

I remember when I was growing up in Mangatarem, there was a weightlifter in my neighborhood.

Crusoe was his name, he with the pigeon chest and a Marilyn Monroe waist.

When I went to college in Manila, I lost touch of Crusoe.

When I came home once following a semester break, I was told Crusoe had gone to America.

I haven’t heard of him since.

How I wish Crusoe is still around to savor Hidilyn’s Olympic glory.

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