Prayers, not hex

The mother of world boxing idol and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, Mommy Dionisia or Mommy D – as she is popularly called – literally took center stage on fight day at the MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was after Pacquiao was declared winner by unanimous decision over welterweight boxing champion Timothy Bradley in their rematch last Sunday.

I don’t know if Mommy Dionisia made history as the first mother to go up the ring. Wearing her white terno, she joined the rest of Team Pacquiao’s corner and his usual hangers-on atop the ring. 

If Pacquiao were any younger, Mommy Dionisia would instantly earn the “stage mother” tag. Strictly speaking, a stage mother is a parent or guardian of a child actor/performer who manages his/her career, often in what is considered an aggressive and overbearing manner.

The term stage mother, however, is loosely being used now to refer to any act where mothers, or parents like us, overly dote on our children in their activities. Public display of affection by mothers on their children also gets to be tagged as “stage mothers,” though not pejoratively.

Actually, while she was still seated at ringside, Mommy Dionisia stole the limelight for a few seconds during her son’s toe-to-toe fight with Bradley. It was not her fault, nor her grand design to take public attention away from her son when cameras panned at her direction.

She was frenetically gesturing, furiously gesticulating, and pointing her fingers toward her son during the fight.

Mommy Dionisia, seated close to ringside, was seen reciting something from a “stampita” (an image of a holy person, a holy card) while clutching a rosary, prompting one of the Top Rank sport commentators to note she was probably casting a hex or a spell on Bradley.

Watching with my family the live telecast of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight at SkyCable’s pay-per-view, we were quite amused when cameras caught Mommy Dionisia’s emotional moments. At least, it somehow eased our tension at how the fight would turn out. Of course, we were all rooting for Pacquiao.

But what for me were more galling were the inane comments during the bout by the co-anchor of Mario Lopez. He rattled off Pacquiao’s non-boxing activities from politics to his embracing charismatic religious pursuits such as bible reading and preaching.

While nobody was asking for his opinion, Lopez’s co-anchor told viewers he was bewildered as to how Pacquiao reconciles his being a boxer with being a charismatic follower of the bible that preaches among others love for one’s enemy. Pacquiao has never been shy to show his Christian faith and always kneels in prayer before and after every fight.

What’s the relevance of those comments? Worse things have been committed in the name of religion. That to me was the last straw.

Apparently, for lack of better things to say, this co-anchor kept firing stupid remarks every break during the 12-round Pacquiao-Bradley bout.

The Top Rank co-anchor could not even decently hide his personal bias by citing unnamed American networks giving Bradley more rounds in the card. That’s why when the co-anchor spotted Mommy Dionisia on the camera monitors, short of calling her a witch, he blurted out: “She’s putting a hex on Bradley!”

It was certainly not a joke but a categorical declaration from the co-anchor of Lopez. He was obviously looking for someone to blame for Bradley  losing badly to Pacquiao.

Hecklers had a field day on Mommy Dionisia’s supposed “hex” on Tim Bradley as captured on video that has gone viral on social media.

But we share the same sentiment of many who came to defend Mommy Dionisia. One of them is Youth Against Corruption and Poverty party-list representative Carol Jayne Lopez, a close friend of the boxing champion. “That’s the secret weapon of Manny – the power of prayer and the unconditional love of his mother,” Lopez was quoted saying.

Lopez described Mommy Dionisia’s motherly instinct when the latter also embraced Bradley after her son was declared winner of the fight. “A mother’s love is unconditional, selfless and in truest form, the strongest form of energy,” Lopez added.

Interviewed by GMA-7 TV in Las Vegas a day after the fight, Mommy Dionisia said she apologized to Bradley after the fight. According to her, Bradley, in turn, told her: “Bilib sya daw sa anak kong si Manny.”

For all her faults and antics, Mommy Dionisia is a typical mother who only wants her son to succeed in whatever he does. She has publicly asked in the past for Pacquiao to retire if only to spare him from physical harm the sport entails. Now even wife Jinkee, who is pregnant with their fifth child, and their four children have joined Mommy Dionisia in praying for Pacquiao to consider retirement.

But for now, Mommy Dionisia, Jinkee and their children and the Filipino nation will continue the prayer power to back Pacquiao in every boxing match. Prayers, not hex, can move mountains, as a bible passage goes.