More Manny, less Dionisia

I have nothing against Dionisia, the mother of Filipino boxing phenomenon Manny Pacquiao. She is just a poor woman who had the incredible luck of getting transported from the very heart of poverty to the very center of immense wealth.

What I cannot understand is the tremendous attention the Philippine broadcast media gives her each time Manny has a fight. I can see the human interest value of featuring her during the early days of Manny’s rise to success. She provided a glimpse of Manny’s personal side.

But don’t you think we have had enough of Dionisia? Don’t you think something is terribly wrong when otherwise perfectly sane veteran television journalists wake up at dawn to catch a glimpse of how Dionisia prepares breakfast?

And don’t you think these otherwise perfectly sane broadcast journalists are not being suckered up as Dionisia plays up an uncanny display of devotion as she passionately hugs and caresses an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Why, these broadcast journalists did not even devote half the time they devoted to Dionisia to the beatification rites of Pope John Paul II, the greatest and most devoted believer in the Virgin Mary if there was one.

Again I have nothing against Dionisia. It is not her fault that the broadcast media would fawn on her. And what can I say if she relishes the attention. As a poor man myself, I probably would feel the same way with the sudden interest.

But the broadcast media ought to know better. They are supposed to be the professionals in knowing what news and information they need to dish out to the public. For a while, plain curiosity fed our desire to know Manny’s mother. But that curiosity has long been bled dry.

I wonder why these people cannot see the light that is there before them. For example, when they made something big about Dionisia continuing to implore on Manny to quit boxing, they equally made something big about her asking for an expensive Hermes bag as a gift. 

Did they never see the glaring contradiction in that? To continue asking Manny to hang up his gloves and at the same time continue asking for expensive gifts after every fight cannot be actions that move in one direction, and the broadcast media ought to quickly note the difference.

I do not mind the broadcast media bombarding the public with hype about a Manny fight. After all, Manny is the biggest thing in boxing today and if you cannot cash in on the phenomenon then something must be terribly wrong with your reflexes.

But the broadcast media should at least try something different each time. The public has had enough of what life is like at home with Dionisia on the day of a Manny fight. If Manny can move on through eight weight divisions, Filipinos ought to move on away from Dionisia.

Susmaryosep! What a big downer it is to turn on your television on the day of the fight expecting some expert analysis or interesting features and instead find the face of Dionisia plastered on the screen, belting out a song.

I read somewhere on Yahoo an article written by an American sports journalist who correctly observed that Manny, in his prime, ought to be fighting the best, instead of being fed the likes of Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley, which are a waste of his talent and time.

I feel the same way and agree with the writer. I believe Filipinos ought to savor Manny all they can as a boxing person now and less about his politics and other passions. There will be plenty of time for that. And please leave Dionisia in the margins of the big picture.