OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: Pacquiao's heart bleeds for the poor
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 02 May 2015
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- He was only 15 and in his second year in Manila, but the then skinny kid from General Santos City in far away Mindanao had shown the trait of an entrepreneur and a leader at that young age.
While in the Big City looking for a job to help his mother in the province to take care of herself and five brothers and sisters, Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao was forced to do menial jobs as sidewalk vendor, construction worker while doubling up as a boxer.
He was then with a group of 12 up-coming fighters including old buddy Gerry Balabagan and lived in a decrepit gym. All of them worked in a construction firm with a weekly salary of Php 1,400 each.
"We lived in a hand-to-mouth existence. Hirap na hirap ako makapagadala ng pera sa nanay ko sa probinsya sa kinikita ko," Pacquiao told a group of people, including media men right after his workout last Tuesday in preparation for his mega-fight with unbeaten American welerweight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"Naisip ko, tuwing payday, itago ko yung P200 para panggastos ko at yung P1,200 ibinibili ko ng bulaklak sa Dangwa bus station sa Sampaloc. Gagawa ako ng flower arrangement para ibenta sa harap ng simbahan sa susunod na araw ng Linggo.
"Yung P1,200 ko nagiging P3,000, sobra pa sa doble enabling me to send P1,200 linggo-linggo sa nanay ko, Pacquiao recalled. "Yung sobra paghahahatian ng barkada, kasi mga binata na sila at magastos. Natutuwa ako kasi ako ang pinakabata, 15 years old lang, pero ako ang kumikita ng ekstra at ako din ang lider nila. "
"Since then," Pacquiao narrated, iba-ibang maliit na negosyo ang naisip kong gawin para lamang maka-augment sa kinikita ko bilang construction worker at boksingero. Maliit lang naman ang kita sa boksing, napupunta sa manager, promoter at trainer ang malaki."
"Doon namumulat ang mga mata ko kung paano kikita ng pera at makatulong sa mas maraming nangangailangan dala ng kahirapan," he reminisced. "Noon din namulat ang mga mata ko sa pagiging lider.
"That's why kapag kumikita na ako ng malaki, I always keep a certain amount para pantulong sa mahihirap, Pacquiao said. " Alam ko ang buhay ng mahirap kasi galing ako doon. Malaki talaga ang simpatya ko sa kanila."
"I really feel sad seeing poor people, lalo na sa mga kababayan natin," he quipped." My heart really bleeds for them. " he said.
oOo
If you haven't already noticed, World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has a new personal assistant in he person of David Sisson. David, an American and son of Baptist Pastor Douglas Sisson speaks fluent Tagalog and Visayan.
Pastor Douglas and family, including his wife and three other children, have been calling General Santos City their second home for 18 years. Pastor Douglas, in fact, has already built a church for his ministry in GenSan.
David, 23, said he and Pacquiao have known each other for 15 years, adding he accepted his present job as payback to the many help the eight-division champ has extended to his father. As the Sarangani Congressman's man-Friday, David, a graduate of College in Lancaster, California, is doing everything his boss orders him related to boxing and even politics.
The presence of the hard-working David in he fighting Congessman's staff added decency to Pacquiao's somewhat messy organization.
oOo
NOTES; On the day (Monday) three-time fighter of the year's team Pacquiao broke his Wild Card training camp and left Los Angeles, marked the first birthday of Paquiao and wife Jinkee's youngest, Baby Israel. It was also the fourth birthday of Kingston, son of the three-time fighter of the year's businessman-friend Abbas Ahmadi, who hosted a joint celebration at his palatial house in Bonita Canyon in nearby Irvine City two days prior last Saturday where everybody had a grand time savoring the tasty Iranian cuisine. It was also Ahmadi who lent Pacquiao the Recreational Vehicle that took him, wife, Sarangani Vice Gov. Jinkee and their five children to Las Vegas.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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