Pacman: 'Pag-asa, Tiyaga at Determinasyon'

Pacman: 'Pag-asa, Tiyaga at Determinasyon'

Wala Lang

By DR. JAIME C. LAYA

MANILA, Philippines -- Lying hungry on cardboard spread on bare ground and glimpsing stars through gaps in the mountain hut’s cogon roof, the little boy’s dream was simply a solid roof and a laden table.  If anyone deserves a mansion in North Forbes, it is he.

Manny Pacquiao’s autobiography (first published in English as told to Timothy James, Pacman: My Story of Hope, Resilience and Never-Say-Never Determination) is now available in Tagalog.  Everyone should read it.

Pacquiao was born in December 1978 in a remote sitio of Kibawe, Bukidnon in Mindanao’s mountainous heart.  At age two, the family moved to the equally secluded Barangay Tango in Glan, Sarangani literally at road’s end.  There Manny spent his boyhood, five kilometers to the nearest settlement that he and his brother Bobby walked to school.  Sometimes with only a banana each for the day, they were mocked by schoolmates for their poverty.

Hauling supplies and water up the stony and dusty (or muddy) road was part of daily life.  At age six or seven, Manny would hike six kilometers to the seashore to help fishermen haul in their nets.  He would set aside two of the few fish tossed his way and sell the rest.

At age 10 (1988), the family moved to Gen. Santos City.  His was not an easy childhood—Manny notes how wounded he was with the loss of his puppy at his father’s hand and how his mother kept the family going after she and four young children were left on their own.  Aling Dionisia did laundry, cleaned others’ houses and roasted peanuts that her children sold on the streets.  Dropping out of school at 12, Manny became “a one-man traveling grocery store” hawking “bread, peanuts, doughnuts, water—you name it, we had it.”

Deciding that he had a chance in boxing, Manny began training.  His life-changing moment was seeing the 1990 Tyson vs. Douglas match and realizing that underdogs could be champions. “To this day, I still watch replays of that fight because it still amazes me.”

At age 15 (1993) and without his mother knowing, Manny stowed away to Manila.  His first, excruciating, job was scraping rust off scrap metal.  He trained at a Sampaloc gym and supported himself (and sending home P300/month), as gardener, construction worker, restaurant helper, tailor, flower vendor.  When jobless, he slept in the open, accepting restaurant leftovers only if he could work for it—wash dishes, help clean.  He refused to beg, no matter what.

Pacman turned professional in 1995 (on a TV show for P50 per fight), first fought abroad in 1998 (Tokyo and Bangkok) and reached Los Angeles in 2001.  He was running out of money but managed by singing karaoke and playing billiards for money.  That was also when he met Freddie Roach.  He won that first U.S. bout and plugged on to become “the most accomplished boxer, pound for pound, inside and outside the ring.”

It says something that he did all these with hardly anyone, least of all government, noticing.

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Comments are cordially invited, addressed to walalang@mb.com.ph.