Churches, Malls Miss Sunday Crowds As Fans Watch Bout On TV

By Metro Staff, PDI Bureaus (Inquirer)
Posted 02:30am (Mla time) July 03, 2006

JEEPNEY DRIVERS stopped plying their routes. Church attendance was down. Malls, normally packed by noon on a Sunday, cried out for customers.

College sophomore Mae Santos, 18, summed it all up. No lover of the blood sport, she crossed her fingers for a Manny Pacquiao victory.

“Even if I’m not a sports fan, I’m still a Filipino,” she told the Inquirer as she navigated her way through Robinson’s Place in Ermita, Manila, where the crowd of customers was noticeably thin because many of the usual shoppers had stayed home to watch the fight.

For a day, everybody seemed to be a Pacquiao fan -- well, almost everybody. Three Roman Catholic bishops whom the Inquirer texted -- Oscar Cruz, Deogracias Iñiguez and Leonardo Medroso -- said they did not watch the fight.

Traffic was fairly light on Metro Manila streets and in cities as far away as Davao, apparently because people were glued to television sets to see Pacquiao duel Mexican Oscar Larios.

Crime incidence in Metro Manila from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. yesterday -- or around the time of the delayed telecast of the fight -- was zero, according the National Capital Region Police Office.

The fever didn’t spare President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Back from her weeklong European trip, Ms Arroyo returned yesterday in time to watch the fight on television in Malacañang.

She said Pacquiao’s victory was “another moment of pride for the Filipino.” But her statement was not without political overtones: She said the nation needed “to be focused as Manny in preparing and persevering toward our goals -- a strong economy, a stable political system and a prosperous society.”

Earlier, Ms Arroyo said she would bestow on Pacquiao the country’s first “Champion for Life” award.

For its part, the House of Representatives, which awarded Pacquiao the Congressional Medal of Achievement last year, will honor him with a new commendation when Congress resumes sessions later this month.

Prayers for Manny
In the City of San Fernando in Pampanga province, calesa driver Cipriano Mainin, 64, went to Mass and offered prayers for his man.

“Manny’s my idol because he fights well and he’s doing well in life,” Mainin said.

The fight was special, too, for Jerby Santo, a disc jockey in Tacloban City in Leyte province. He said it helped him forget “my personal problems and those of the nation.”

In Pacquiao’s hometown, around 2,000 people saw a delayed telecast of the fight at the air-conditioned General Santos City gymnasium.

“Hit him hard,” they chorused each time the hometown boy connected. “Kill him,” another group shouted.

Sky-high prices
When Larios fell twice to the canvas, the crowd went wild and chanted: “He has been knocked out. He has been knocked out.”

But the Mexican was still on his feet.

Sky-high ticket prices prevented the crowds milling around the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City from getting in to watch the match, but they did not leave disappointed.

For a few moments, they were able to gaze at the stars and hobnob with a virtual “Who’s Who” in show biz and politics.

Cheers erupted and cameras clicked away every time a major celebrity stepped on the carpeted VIP entrance of the coliseum.

Among the stars spotted were Gary Valenciano, Aga Muhlach and wife Charlene Gonzales, siblings Richard and Ruffa Gutierrez, Jericho Rosales -- who played the role of the boxer in “Pacquiao the Movie” -- and Heart Evangelista.

Politicians, too
Politicians were not far behind: Senator Manuel Roxas II, who came with broadcaster Korina Sanchez, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Representatives Gilbert Remulla (Cavite), Prospero Nograles (Davao City) and Joel Villanueva (Cibac party-list), and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Some of the crowd had come expecting their P50 and P100 would buy them a ticket. They were shocked to find out that the cheapest ticket cost P528.

Still, others stayed, hoping that tickets would later be sold at discounted prices. But that did not happen.

Patron 1 and 2 tickets were sold for P52,800 and P47,520, respectively, while Patron 3 and 4 tickets cost P31,680. Lower Box tickets fetched P21,120, while Lower Box A and B were worth P7,920 and P2,640, respectively.

A consolation
Construction foreman Peter Balbon, 36, brought along his wife Teresa, 36, and son Carlo, 8.

“I thought it would only cost about P100 or so. We never expected it would cost so much,” Teresa said.

Carlo seemed happy enough. “I saw Richard Gutierrez,” the boy said.

Jun Cañete, 27, a nurse, also thought his P50 would be able to get him in.

“I’d rather stay here and watch the stars,” he consoled himself, laughing. “It’s not every day that I get to see them in person.”

Sponsors made their presence felt at the coliseum entrances, with banners and streamers mounted at conspicuous spaces, booths offering souvenir shirts and Pacquiao CDs, and promo persons handing out freebies like balloons, carton fans and even samples of painkillers and cough medicine.

Impressed with Larios
The crowd watched the fight on monitors set up near the Araneta entrance. Cheers rang out every time Pacquiao landed a punch -- until the coliseum staff moved the monitors away after seven rounds.

An usher later told the disgruntled crowd: “Please just watch it on TV later.”

One Mandaluyong police officer watched the live telecast at the SM Megamall Cinemas without having to pay for the P320 ticket. He was impressed with Pacquiao’s opponent.

“Larios was really strong. I did not expect he would last until the last round,” said the officer. “He was already full of bruises but he was still fighting.”

He and another policewoman were on beat patrol when the cinema manager invited them into one of the five cinemas showing the fight at the mall.

Packed theaters
The five cinemas were packed.

“I think more people went to SM than to the Araneta Coliseum,” the cinema official joked, saying the steep ticket prices might have turned off the fans.

The cinemas virtually shook with cheers every time Pacquiao scored.

Under the Ortigas flyover in Mandaluyong, only one Metropolitan Manila Development Authority traffic enforcer was at the intersection; the others were inside the station, watching the fight on TV.

Policemen at the Eastern Police District Annex Office also gathered in one office to watch the delayed telecast. Two people reporting a crime were also glued to the set, resuming their story during the long commercial breaks.

Still, not everyone had gone crazy.

In parts of Quezon City, some people did not seem very excited about the fight.

Stalls selling secondhand television sets on EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue) were tuned to the bout but there were very few people watching.

One possible reason was that people had tuned in to radio station dzMM, which described the fight blow by blow and revealed the result before the ABS-CBN’s telecast got underway almost two hours later.

“There was too much hype. That turned me off,” said a reporter, who chose to play games on the computer.

Here is how it was like in the rest of the country:

Luzon
Melito Lacanlale, a mini-bus dispatcher, spent the day at the People’s Gym at the provincial capitol of Pampanga to watch the delayed telecast.

“Iba ang kamao niya (Pacquiao’s fist is unique),” Lacanlale said. He said he challenged his neighbors to place bets on Larios but no one took his dare.

The large viewing screen in San Fernando, Pampanga, drew only a small crowd of 200 men and boys, leaving half of the seats in the gym empty. Many spectators were irked by the delayed telecast and the numerous commercials.

ABS-CBN personnel at the gym kept up the audience’s enthusiasm by holding games like arm wrestling. They gave away free drinks and candies.

In La Union province, farmers in Calungboyan in Balaoan town were all ears to the Bombo Radyo broadcast of the bout. They said they were robbed of the excitement of seeing the fight on TV because of the delayed telecast.

In Tarlac City, a number of meat stalls at the new public market on Ninoy Aquino Boulevard were empty because their owners had chosen to watch the fight at home.

In Tuguegarao City, bets took the form of plates of pancit (noodles), bottles of beer and as much as P500.

In eastern Laguna, streets were empty as drivers of jeepneys and tricycles parked their vehicles.

At the Our Lady’s Nativity Parish in Pangil town, a few people were seen attending a 2 p.m. funeral Mass for a relative, said its parish priest.

Mario Marjalino, an Information Technology consultant in Masbate province, mocked Malacañang’s announcement that Pacquiao would be given the “Champion for Life” award.

“It’s just a mere mask that hides the failures of our political system,” he said.

Broadcaster Jun Galias of Sorsogon province said: “For a country in shambles like ours, every victory counts.”

Viel Balmeo, a third-year high school student at Maryhill College in Lucena City, said: “Yes, he’s still the champion, but he no longer has the true heart and fighting spirit of a champ. Maybe because he wanted to stay longer so he could earn more money. He played it safe so as not to cause more harm to his body.”

Visayas
Most Filipinos across the Visayas, even those who do not care much for boxing, either stayed home to follow the fight on TV or watched it on wide-screen televisions set up in public places and restaurants.

But there were some who were frustrated. In Maasin City in Southern Leyte province, subscribers to Dream TV were dismayed to learn that the cable firm did not carry ABS-CBN, which beamed the fight.

In Tacloban, Malyn Caca, 42, traveled 21 km just to watch her idol fight. Jeepney driver Virgilio Villablanca, 56, took the day off to watch the match.

Mayor Alfredo “Bejo” Romualdez put up a 42-foot wide screen TV at the convention center so that people from out of town could see the bout.

Many Cebuanos were dismayed by the delayed telecast. Betting was relatively light because it was hard to find someone who would bet on Larios.

In Bacolod City in Negros Occidental province, thousands trooped to the arts and youth center, where the city government had set up a widescreen TV, even if they already knew that Pacquiao had won.

Many people went to church early or chose to hear a later Mass so they could watch the fight.

Mindanao
In Davao City, children mimicked the two boxers during breaks, at times sparking petty quarrels.

In Cotabato City, fish vendor Mokamad Ayob gladly paid for the pulutan (bar chow) and the liquor he and his friends were consuming when Pacquiao floored his opponent in the 7th round.