Lawyer Romy Macalintal isn’t giving up hope that someday soon, the White House will release the pictures taken during the historic meeting between President Barack Obama and Manny Pacquiao with wife Jinkee at the Oval Office last February. Like millions of Filipinos, Romy is wondering why an embargo on the photographs. Surely, showing the Pacquiaos with Obama will impact positively on both sides of the world. Pacquiao is the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound king while Obama is hailed as the leader of the world’s most powerful nation. The speculation that Obama wouldn’t like to be viewed as coddling up to Pacquiao in deference to Floyd Mayweather Jr. is hogwash. Obama is known to receive world champion athletes and teams of various sports at the White House and uses the occasion to inspire others with the example of achievers. He doesn’t play favorites.
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum once said leaders of developed countries like to single out Pacquiao as a Third World hero who came from abject poverty to metamorphose into a global icon because he serves as a symbol of hope for those struggling for a better life.
So why are there still no pictures of the Pacquiaos with Obama in media or even the far corners of cyberspace?
“For sure, there were photos of that momentous event,” said Romy who never fails to watch Pacquiao’s fights at ringside, no matter where they’re staged. “But since then and until now, millions of Pacquiao’s fans all over the world have not seen a copy of any of these photos. I doubt if Pacquiao has his own copies for otherwise, the same would have been published long before. And almost everybody is asking ‘Where are the pictures taken during that meeting?’”
Romy said he can only speculate on the reason behind the “thunderous” silence of the White House press sitting on the release of the photos. “The answer is purely to preserve political diplomacy,” said Romy. “For at that time, there were reports that arrangements had been made for a possible one-on-one meeting between Obama and President Aquino. Since the meeting had not yet materialized, the White House press staff (probably) deemed it diplomatically proper to hold in abeyance or delay the release of the Obama-Pacquao photos until such time that Obama and President Aquino meet (for) the chance to be photographed together.”
Romy pointed out that last Sept. 21, Obama and President Aquino finally met and shook hands and were photographed together in a forum at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. “Their photos hogged the front pages of almost all the newspapers in the country,” Romy went on. “Having solved the diplomatic impasse on those Obama-Pacquiao photos, the same should now be released by the White House. Pacquiao’s millions of fans and Pacquiao himself and his family cannot be denied to see and take possession of these pictures which will forever prove as authentic evidence of the great achievement of a great Filipino boxer and emerging political leader. Again I say, it’s about time.”
* * *
Reader Brian Gan recently sent in an e-mail saying in his life, he has written formally only four times – to the United Nations (unspecified topic), then-President Estrada (also unspecified topic), this column (commenting on the Centennial team led by coach Tim Cone in 1998) and once more, this column. Gan described himself as a 38-year-old businessman. Here are excerpts from his latest letter:
“It was my father’s birthday last Sept. 27 and as a family tradition, he always would make a wish. Year in and year out, his wish will always be to have better health. This year, he decided to think of country. A first from a man who stopped watching Philippine basketball since China crushed the Robert Jaworski team, 130-65, (at the Asian Games in 1990). My dad, who actually went to Beijing with his friends, felt embarrassed by the loss. They believed the Japanese head coach who boldly predicted the Philippines would win it all.
“So after 21 years, my father watched his first Philppine team game versus the NBA All-Stars and was very impressed with the system used by coach Rajko Toroman. Please bear in mind, MVP took a team of discards, not of superstars but players who wanted to play for country. He got a 6-10 guy who never made it to the NBA, used Taulava and three Talk ‘N’ Text players who practiced for the shortest possible time and gave us a chance to take third place (in FIBA-Asia). Do we need Rajko? We do. He is the second coming of Ron Jacobs who coached a team built around Mike Mustre and Art de la Cruz and made them finish third in the PBA. We need the PBA to lend players, train them for how long Toroman wants. Stop our crab mentality and make proper suggestions on how to be better. This is for our country.
“Jordan is the second best team in Asia. Toroman showed us we can beat this team. He actually did it in four instances. Japan is our long-time rival and Toroman is unbeaten against Japan. Did we actually think we can beat Iran? I didn’t until Toroman showed his boys and our country that we can. We beat them in the Jones Cup. Against China, we lost by 15 with a 10-man team on China’s home floor. Korea can easily defeat us by 15. Toroman and Smart Gilas led 85 percent of the way but it was not meant to be. Maybe it was good we didn’t win so we can come together as a nation and realize we just need a little more push and cooperation.
“Toroman is like Freddie Roach. Manny Pacquiao is a great boxer, he listens to his coach. Lassiter, Lutz, Casio, Tiu, Marcus, Japeth, Mac and the rest all know the value of Toroman. This guy is more Filipino than many of us, he wants his players to sing the national anthem. The PBA’s recent proposal to lend 16 players is flawed because the players can only play in one tournament, meaning FIBA-Asia. But we need to train them to play in other tournaments. Toroman wants to have three months to train his team. Look at Japeth, Lutz and Baracael, all fresh from Gilas, all leading their team in the PBA, an indication of how good Toroman is. I hope Toroman comes back. We need him.”