Manny and Jinkee up close

The only Filipino in Time’s 100 Most Influential People list and the one who staked the Filipino flag on the world map in this season of recession, swine flu, Susan Boyle and Kris Allen, boxing champ Manny Pacquiao is the superstar Pinoys have not seen since the heady days of EDSA and the decade of Nora Aunor.

The pound-for-pound boxing champ is uniting the country like Epoxy, so that you see Iñigo Zobel in one of his victory parties at Corinthian Gardens and Mang Ambo in another at a sweltering GenSan gym.

When GMA-7 invited me to a dinner at the ballroom of the Renaissance Makati City Hotel to honor Pacquiao, I knew this was one ringside-seat invitation I was not going to miss.

It almost wasn’t meant to be because Pacquiao, who was reportedly not feeling well on the day of the dinner, missed the two flights to Manila from General Santos City.

But his kumpadre Chavit Singson rose to the occasion and prevented GMA bigwigs from having a heart attack by sending his European-made 26-seater private jet to GenSan to pick up Manny, his wife Jinkee and three others. By the time I got to the ballroom at 7:30, I was told that Manny’s plane had just taken off and he would be at Renaissance in about two hours. That’s just like Fairview to Makati on a bad day, so I proceeded to enjoy dinner with the other members of media at my table.

At about 10:30 pm, in walked The Champ and it was as if we had only waited 30 minutes, not three hours, for him. His boyish grin and earnest eyes and the way he would accommodate everyone with a camera and a plea, made the wait worth it. I think it was Sarah Jessica Parker who once said that she made it a point to accommodate every autograph-seeking fan because they made her who she is today. But Manny does not owe his success on the ring or his wealth to his fans, and yet he takes time out to accommodate everyone. In fact, that night, the photo opportunity per table by the photo wall had to be suspended because no one could wait for his/her turn. Everyone, including myself, just swarmed around The Champ.

“Dong!” society writer Maurice Arcache greeted Manny like an old friend in Bisaya, and the boxing champ responded just as warmly. I was tickled pink to see them shake hands — the duke of High Society and the prince of Nouveau Riche.

Later some young matrons from old rich families having dinner nearby asked Maurice to get them a souvenir Pacquiao pin from the victory dinner. Manny mania really transcends social classes, di bala palangga?

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A few days later, I had a chance to chat with Manny’s wife Jinkee during a pictorial and she told me that though she is honored by all the accolades and titles her husband receives here and abroad, “Hindi ko lang pinapansin.” If she kept a scorecard of all the honors, they would probably get to her head.

Her joys include videoke and jewelry, and she makes sure she saves enough for her four children’s future. Her two boys Jimuel, eight, and Michael, seven, go to Brent, and they shift from American-accented English to Bisaya effortlessly. Jinkee says her sons know their father is famous, but she has not seriously sat down with them to help them process that reality.

“They are too young,” she points out. Though Manny grew up “very poor,” Jinkee went to a private Catholic high school in GenSan. She then went on to finish a two-year-course after she graduated. When she is away, her sons are taken care of by yaya Remy, who has been with the Pacquiaos even before Jimuel was born.

I asked Jinkee where she gets her strength every time Manny gets up on the ring to fight. “From my faith and because I have been used to it. Mag-boyfriend pa lang kami, pinapanood ko na ang mga laban ni Manny.”

She has seen him knocked down only once, and that was early on in his boxing career. “And it was nothing like (Ricky) Hatton,” she pointed out. Manny and Jinkee were married in 1999, seven months after they met in a GenSan mall where she was a beauty representative for Pond’s.

Jinkee obviously enjoys many luxuries now. She and Manny have three residences — in GenSan, in Laguna and in Los Angeles. Her second home in Metro Manila is the Renaissance, which gives Manny and her the privacy and the impeccable service they want whenever they are in town. She has bodyguards, but seems to have a few trusted people in her inner circle, among them, her twin sister Janet.

To me, she is a shy and softspoken young wife and mother whose basic ways remain simple and down-to-earth.

“Why should I change?” she tells us. “Hindi naman kailangan.”

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