Barriga, last man standing, and Maranaw wedding

On Saturday morning, June 30, we attended the Maranaw wedding reception of Engr. Fahad Masorong Dalidig and Princess Dayang Dayang Didato Mama at the Ayala Resort Hotel inside the Mindanao State University campus in Marawi City. A son of mine, Vincent, and I travelled from Iligan City at 6 a.m. to make it to the Dalidig-Mama wedding reception that was attended by some 800 guests with many more opting to wait at the bride’s residence for the after-lunch reception.

We were told that, in accordance with Maranaw custom, the husband is to stay at the wife’s parents’ home for at least three days (some say, 30 days) after the wedding to continue to receive friends and relatives who wish to extend personal greetings and those who failed to make it to the wedding proper and the reception. 

The parents of the groom, Engr. Cosain Langco Dalidig, Al-hadj, and Hadja Sittie Aliah Bacarat Marorong Dalidig, and the parents of the bride, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Region XI director, Datu Yusoph Boyog Mama (Masirikampo sa Marawi) and Queen Omairah Dangcal Didato Mama (Bai a labi sa Marawi and Bai a labi sa Tubok) and, of course the young couple, were the main characters in the ceremony that started as early as 4:30 a.m. in the mosque inside the Mama compound in Marawi.

That part of the ceremony was too early for us and our hosts deemed it wise to exempt us from the early three-hour travel from Iligan to Marawi. We were just asked to join the reception and were promptly fascinated by the colorful and elaborate Maranaw finery worn by the ladies who spared no effort to look their best to honor the newly-wedded couple.

After the reception, we promptly motored back to Iligan for our 5:20 p.m. flight back to Manila on Philippine Air Lines (PAL). While at the pre-departure area of the airport, we bumped into the PLDT Smart-Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) boxing team headed by coach and 1992 Barcelona Olympics boxing bronze medalist Roel Velasco and our lone boxing entry to the 2012 London Olympics, Anthony Barriga, 19-year-old native of Panabo, Davao del Norte. Barriga will compete in the light flyweight (49 kgs) division.

Barriga was the only one among 10 male and female boxers to have made it among those who took part in different qualifying stages for the London Olympics. The other male pugilists were Delfin Boholst, Dennis Galvan, Joegin Ladon, Wilfredo Lopez, Rey Saludar, Charly Suarez, Rolando Tacuyan and Joan Tipon. The female boxers were Alice Kate Aparri and Nesthy Petecio. Another hopeful, Josie Gabuco actually won the world championship in her division, but her weight category was scrapped in the Olympics.

The ABAP and even world boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Philippine Olympic Committee president, Jose Cojuangco Jr. had appealed to the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to issue an invitation to lightweight boxer Suarez. However, the AIBA, through its executive director, Ho Kim, was unable to oblige the Philippines in an email to ABAP president Ricky Vargas. 

Suarez was a finalist in the Asian Qualifying tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan where he lost to China’s Qiang Liu. ABAP had written a formal request to AIBA president Ching Kuo-wu of Taiwan to reconsider Suarez’s case since the latter’s loss to Qiang was, according to observers, highly questionable.

Barriga will thus be the country’s only hope to end the drought in Olympic boxing after Mansueto (Onyok) Velasco, younger brother of Roel, won the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in a controversial loss to Bulgaria’s Daniel Petrov. I was then chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and was witness to the painful loss after the PSC had practically pulled out all stops in support of the boxing team and the entire Philippine team to Atlanta on instructions of then President Fidel V. Ramos. After that silver medal in Atlanta, three Olympics have come and gone and millions have been spent and we still have to match Onyok’s performance, at the very least, and at best, win the country’s first ever Olympic gold medal, the ABAP’s goal.

Out of the nine Olympic gold medals won by the country since it participated in the Olympics in 1928, five were won by boxers (two silvers from Onyok and Anthony Villanueva in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and three bronzes). More than 60 Filipino boxers have competed in the Olympic boxing since 1932 and on July 31, 2012, when the boxing competitions start, Barriga should have the entire country behind him. He, Roel and ABAP are leaving no stone unturned: they leave today to start acclimatizing themselves to the unpredictable English weather and to get used to the competitive environment of the Olympics.