Manny Pacquiao is on the cover of Time Magazine’s Asia edition this week. He is the first Filipino to be so honored after former president Corazon Aquino got the distinction twice. The accompanying five-page article on Pacquiao will run in all of Time's other editions.
This honor is not won on the deadly strength of one's fists. It is earned as a matter of recognition that the editors of Time believe cannot be denied. It may not bring Pacquiao the same riches as winning fights or endorsing products. But it preserves his name forever.
More importantly, it brings honor not only to himself and his family, but also to his country. And it is perhaps because of this that Time Magazine decided to give him that honor. And the cover title that went with it — “The Great Hope.”
The suggestion imparted by the title cannot be missed. It does not refer to Pacquiao himself who, at the pinnacle of success in his chosen field, may have little more to hope for. Rather, it refers to the tens of millions of Filipinos for whom hope is all there is.
Filipinos cling to hope not because they want to be famous as Pacquiao. They do not cling to hope because they want to be as rich as he is. Filpinos cling to hope because hope is all there is left. But to cling to hope, they need to have a living image of it.
We do not know what profound effect being on the cover of Time will have on Pacquiao. But we hope (see?) it will be something sublime, as in realizing he does not need to go into politics for reasons that are obvious to anyone except he whose succeess has made greedy.
There is nothing in politics that can give Pacquiao the satisfaction that he is only forcing himself to believe, or the vultures that are hovering around him waiting to cash in on his name are trying so hard to convince him into doing.
Politics is the exact opposite of the global respect and admiration he has already attained by just being what he is. He does not need to ruin everything by jumping into the toxic lake of politics and poisoning himself.
We have been saying this and we say it again — it is time for Pacquiao to retire. It is time he devotes the rest of his life, as an icon of hope, to encourage Filipinos, especially the young, on the positive things in life, be it in sports, education, or simply being patriots.