No accidents, crimes during Pacquiao bout

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) recorded yesterday zero vehicular accidents and crimes in Metro Manila as the metropolis waited to watch the match between boxers Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton.

“Majority of the 12 million Metro Manilans, including criminals, were in their homes watching the fight. So we recorded no vehicular and crime incidents as the fight was in progress,” said NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales.

Pacquiao won the fight by technical knockout in the second round.

Rosales said only a small number of bus and jeepney drivers plied their routes between 8 a.m. to 12 noon, while the Pacquiao-Hatton fight was in progress.

“The drivers temporarily stopped plying their routes to either listen to the live radio coverage of the bout or the pay-per-view,” he said. “They have no passengers to pick-up anyway because majority of Metro Manilans were at home glued to their TV sets.”

Adrian Garcia, 19, who traveled from Tagaytay City to Manila as the fight was in progress, said there was only a handful of vehicles along the Osmeña Highway when Pacquiao and Hatton fought.

Garcia said he noticed that vehicles traveling along the highway had their radios tuned to radio station dzBB, which covered the fight live.

Jeepney driver Virgilio de Guzman said he stopped plying his Cubao-Divisoria route as early as 9 a.m. to listen to the radio coverage of the fight.

Another jeepney driver, Mario Andalucia, of the Balic-Balic-Quiapo route, said he did not want to miss the Pacquiao-Hatton fight and decided to join De Guzman in listening to the radio coverage of the bout.

Both De Guzman and Andalucia resumed plying their routes after Pacquiao won the boxing match.

“I hope I get lucky because I might not meet my boundary (the amount a public utility driver has to remit to the operator, usually daily) because I was off the streets for a few hours,” Andalucia said. – With Michael Punongbayan