By Al S. Mendoza

 

I’M sure Manny Pacquiao is now nursing the regret of his life when he engaged President Duterte in a verbal combat.

No one beats a sitting President at any given time.

Isn’t there a saying that no one can defeat City Hall—the city mayor being City Hall?

What more with Malacanang—the President of the Republic being Malacanang himself?

That’s why Pacquiao suddenly fighting the President boggles the mind.

A mismatch, to say the least.

And I thought he’s surrounded by intelligent strategists?

Without warning, Pacquiao unleashed anti-Duterte tirades that shocked even PacMan’s own Mommy Dionisia.

It’s plain crazy, indeed, as Pacquiao, the born brawler that he is, even threw the first punches.

“The President has not done enough to protect our territories in the South China Sea against China,” said Pacquiao.  “Nakukulangan ako.”

It was a sneak attack.

If this were war, it was a blitzkrieg.

Did Pacquiao hope to catch President Duterte napping?

But no, the President is not the type that you could just pin down in a corner.

He’s no stranger to political intramurals, having been an unbeaten political maverick for nearly 35 years now.

He wouldn’t even react so swiftly when under fire.

He’s known to go the extra mile when studying his counterpunches.

He’d only deliver the blows at the precise moment, usually going for the jugular the minute he sees an opening.

Mr. Duterte’s first punch to Pacquiao was devastating, to say the least: “You have a very shallow understanding of foreign affairs.  Mag-aral ka muna.”

Short but stinging.

A knockout.

Cruel, but Pacquiao asked for it.

Pacquiao has not gone beyond high school, earning a high school diploma only by accommodation through his world stature as a multiple-division world boxing champion.

Not his fault.  Abject poverty deprived him of education.

Pacquiao was not only up against a President, but a wily lawyer as well.

And wasn’t Mr. Duterte a legendary prosecutor before he entered politics in 1987.

When Pacquiao said the government is graft-ridden, that became the final nail to his political coffin.

Reacting to the President’s dare to name agencies he would call corrupt, Pacquiao singled out the Department of Health (DOH). Yikes! Old hat.

The President simply reminded Pacquiao that the Senate’s done dealing with DOH, which came out clean as a sheet.

Pacquiao would next become defensive when the President threatened to expose him as a liar if he could not prove his allegations of government graft.

Pacquiao said: “I have never lied in my life.”

Hello?

A while back, Pacquiao vehemently denied having fathered a child outside of wedlock.  Then he retracted.

Below-the-belt punches are illegal in boxing.

Not in politics.  That’s why Pacquiao had lost to Duterte by knockout even before he could throw his first verbal jab.

You say you plan to run for President but how come you pick a sitting President for a punching bag?

That’s a certified recipe for disaster.

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