Last fight is a warning for Manny

For our special presentation on Straight from the Sky tonight, we bring back Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Partylist Congressman Pastor “Jun” Alcover, Jr. who was with us six months ago to report on his activities in Congress. With so many things happening in this country under the Aquino administration, which gave financial assistance to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), we asked Jun Alcover to give us an idea of what’s up with the Aquino administration?

 I have known Jun Alcover for a long time now. He was a communist who was caught in the early 80s and one of the few who admitted his mistake and has turned around against his former comrades and has become a scourge of the communist sympathizers in the Halls of Congress. So tonight in a “no-holds-barred” interview, Rep. Jun Alcover will tell you what is happening today and the dangers our nation faces for coddling the enemies of the state. Watch him in this very interesting interview in SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

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 Like a true-blooded Filipino, I watched the Pacquiao-Marquez fight on live satellite TV in one of the thousands of venues around the nation, which was hooked up with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prior to the Pacquiao-Marquez fight, a 10-second silent prayer was said for the passing of boxing great Joe Frazier. I won’t bother with the details of the fight, which you can read in the front pages of this paper.

 But let me say that the 47-minute 12-round fight was one of the most boring fights that we’ve seen Manny Pacquiao ever fought. Marquez fought a very tactical fight and even landed more blows on Manny, while Manny failed to explode with his famous one-two-punch and ended not even landing a serious blow on the face of Marquez.

 So after 12 rounds, the judges, Glenn Trowbridge (116-112) and Dave Moretti (115-113) scored for Pacquiao, while Judge Robert Hoyle scored a draw (114-114) thus giving Manny Pacquiao a majority decision so he could still keep his title as the Welterweight Champion of the world. But for us who were watching it at the Cebu Country Club, we really thought Marquez won that fight. However, I submit that Marquez wasn’t really convincing to wrest the title away from Manny. But in truth, when the referee announced that Manny had won, it brought a somewhat delayed jubilation in the social hall.

 Of course, as Filipinos we are elated that Manny once more won the match. But this last one should be a warning to Manny Pacquiao that perhaps now is the time to retire while he is still ahead. In short, the man on the ring that we saw yesterday wasn’t the same Manny Pacquiao that we used to know. Perhaps his role as Congressman is wearing him down.

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 I was in Manila for three days last week and the talks in coffeehouses focused on whether the Aquino administration would allow former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo her medical leave or not. As we all know, Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Leila de Lima has gone overboard looking for any excuse to detain the former President in this country, while the Sandiganbayan allowed Rep. Imelda Marcos who has a bevy of cases against her that goes all the way back to the days after EDSA.

 Stories that the Arroyos were seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic were sent to the DoJ Secretary who revealed it to the press. But Dominican Republic Ambassador Carlos Morales denied the reports. This goes to show that the DoJ under Sec. de Lima (she already made her mea culpa) would go to extreme lengths, even from unverifiable text reports, and report these as facts. But with this official denial, it leaves the DoJ Secretary heehawing like an embarrassed donkey. But of course Malacañang still backs Sec. de Lima saying that she is merely doing her job.

 Doing her job? Can the DoJ Secretary explain why PAL Chairman Lucio Tan, who has a string of cases against him is not on the hold order, yet the state allows him to leave the country. Ramona Bautista, the principal murder suspect of Ram Revilla’s celebrated murder case, was able to slip away under the prying eyes of Immigration officials in NAIA.

 Is the Aquino administration applying a double standard of justice against the Arroyos?  While it is easy to assume that this is happening, I suspect that the brouhaha hogging the national newspapers and TV news channels was concocted by Malacañang in order to divert the attention of our people away from the bigger and more important problems facing our nation, the fact that Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III gave money to the enemies of the state. This is called damage control!

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