China can be defeated – Hildelyn
By Leonardo Micua
MOVE over Manny Pacquiao. We have a new sports heroine, in the person of Hidilyn Diaz who just lifted the109 million Filipinos with her gold medal win in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Only 30 years old, Hidilyn is now the new phenomenon in Philippine sports after snaring the elusive Olympics gold in Tokyo.
Yes, a woman (and not a man) was the first to nail down the gold in the Olympics for dear Philippines.
Hidilyn’s spectacular feat in weightlifting finally ended the 97-year Philippine quest for gold, etching her name in the country’s history book. By defeating her Chinese rival fair and square, Hidilyn just disproved the belief that the Chinese cannot be defeated.
With all the adulations she has been getting plus the cash and non-cash incentives poured on her like southwestern monsoon rains after her spectacular weightlifting performance, Hidilyan Diaz will no doubt forever become the inspiration of all Filipinos in all generations.
Shorn of financial support for her training, she appealed for help from the private sector so she could train for the elusive gold. After three outings in the Olympics, her highest medal was a silver which she bagged in Rio Janiero in 2016. Her long years of training and sacrifice ultimately paid off when she lifted the 224 kg weight and clinched a Games mark of 127 kg in ‘clean and jerk’, to the surprise of many, including her Chinese rival.
To me, Hidilyn is now a national treasure that the nation will forever be proud of. She championed the cause of athletes by proving that even with minimal support from home, one can reach the apex of his/her dream with grit and determination.
Now several times more popular than Senator Pacquiao, who is still in the midst of training for his upcoming bout with American champion Errol Spence, Hidilyn deserves more respect because she struggled to keep the national flag flying in international games, not for her own personal glory.
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Note that the gold medal victory of Hidilyn Diaz in the Olympics grabbed the headlines of major Manila broadsheets, relegating the SONA of President Rodrigo Duterte the day before to just secondary story! Three of four of the major dailies even had their headlines printed in bold capital letters.
Our dailies may have patiently waited for Hidilyn’s turn to lift the weight and obviously changed their headlines in an instant when the gold was already in Diaz’ grip.
The Philippine Star had it: “FINALLY OLYMPIC GOLD” while Philippine Daily Inquirer wrote: “HEAVY LOAD LIFTED: DIAZ WINS IST PH OLYMPIC GOLD”. My favorite newspaper Manila Bulletin just had a one-word headline “GOLD!” The Daily Tribune’s was “Phl wins 1st Olympic gold”.
Sorry, I failed to get copies of my other two favorite broadsheets, The Manila Times and Manila Standard that day.
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None of our city officials in Dagupan, except one, was seen moving around to look into the conditions of their constituents when most of Dagupan literally went under water because of days of monsoon rains triggered last time by Typhoon Fabian. If they did, their photos would have been posted on socmed in an instant by the PIO.
It was surprising to note that no such photos were uploaded on Facebook or on Instagram as that office used to do in the past even if it was a mere photo op. It meant that the officials were not prepared to wade on flooded streets and risk being infected with leptospirosis. Or, could it be because there is truth to the suspicion of some people of Dagupan that the top man was not in the city anyway while folks were already in a panic mode due to the rising floodwater.
Perhaps not wanting to leave their homes for fear of catching cold and COVID-19, the city officials left it to the CDRRMO to worry about evacuating residents affected by the monsoon rains.
But not Vice Mayor Bryan Kua. He was very visible in the streets assessing the situation in flooded areas all by himself, not the least worried about getting his feet wet. We were told that when residents of Sitio Fisheries in Barangay Malued texted him that they needed bamboo poles to be made into rafts, he sent a truckload of these, enough to be made into three rafts.
Raft is the best and most convenient means of transport for residents of Sitio Fisheries whenever they need to be evacuated in case the floodwaters reach the danger level.
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