HOW PACQUIAO'S MOM RAISED HIM TO BECOME GODLY
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 02 May 2015
Dionesia Pacquiao.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- A mother, always a mother.
That's how Dionisia Dapidran-Pacquiao is to her World Boxing Organization welterweight titlist Manny.
In the morning when Team Pacquiao was to break camp at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Aling Dionisia, now popularly known as "Mommy D,'" went inside the Freddie Roach-owned boxing club and approached her eight-division champion son to bid him goodbye.
One late evening, Aling Dionisia also barged into Pacquiao's mansion along Plymouth St., also in L.A., to tell his son to come up to his room and rest as he still had go wake up early for the scheduled morning run and a sparring session the next day.
She also, begged guests who were still milling around the house to please let Manny have a rest as he was preparing for the biggest fight of his career.
Pacquiao is battling undefeated local boy Floyd Mayweather Jr. Saturday in their super-fight at the MGM Grand Arena here.
The Sarangani congressman himself attested that Mommy D had been religiously doing the same every night since flying to the United States to lend him support in his preparation and to, once again, watch his fight as in previous occasions.
Aling Dionisia, actually, wanted the soon-to-be three-time Fighter of the Year and Fighter of the Decade honoree of the Boxing Writers Association of America to be a priest, her son ended up a fighter instead becoming the only man to win world championships in eight weight divisions.
What Pacquiao is today, Mommy D instilled in him.
Before embracing a new religion, it was Pacquiao's trademark as a fighter to kneel and pray in his corner before and after a fight. Even in training, before he starts a segment in his regimen ? whether atop the ring punching with or sparring or punishing the heavy bag, working with double end ball or speed ball ? the Pacman always made it a point to make the sign of the cross.
Traits, he told this writer once, he learned from his mother, but which he no longer practices now as a born again Christian. Mommy D, being a devout Catholic, resented his son's decision at first and even refused to watch a couple of Pacquiao's fight.
"Wala na sa akin yun," she said in an interview. Para sa Diyos din naman ang ginagawa niya. Nagaaral siya ng mga salita ng Diyos at isinasakatuparan niya ang mga ito, wala akong tutol."
"My mother is a very prayerful woman. When I was growing up with my other five siblings, she taught us what she knew about God," Pacquiao recalled in the same interview . ?Mama raised us praying,? he said.
?Before retiring to bed, Mama gathered us all to pray. Kung sino pa wala, we would wait till he or she arrived. And before doing anything when we woke up in the morning, like cleaning the house, doing the dishes, everything, we prayed first.?
?When we were not doing anything, instead of playing in the backyard or elsewhere, she gathered us all and taught us why God created us. What is the purpose of our lives,? the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion recalled.
?Mama would always say we have to thank God for creating us as human beings and not animals, adding had God chose to make us animals, we would not have enjoyed what we are enjoying now,? he said.
?That?s why as I grew up, I realized how kind God is to me. I realized that God helps more those who are near Him kasi madali ka niyang makita. Pag malayo ka sa Diyos, hindi ka masyadong matutulungan. I may sound silly, but I feel it."
The 36-year-old said all his success in life as a boxer, he owes it to God. ?Ang mga tagumpay ko atop the ring and elsewhere, bigay ni Lord yun. Kaya naman lahat ng mga yun, iniaalay ko sa Kanya. I give it back to Him by way of helping others, especially those in dire need of help,? he philosophized.
?You know what? Mama, realizing perhaps that I have religiously absorbing all she was teaching me wanted me to be a priest? the former pound-for-pound king said with glow in his eyes.
?Yes, she often told me, mabuti pa magpari ka na lang. But we didn?t have the money then to enroll me in a seminary. Kahit na nga sa elementary school hirap na hirap kami, eh sa seminaryo pa,? he continued reminiscing. So, to help Mama raise all six of us, kung ano-anong trabaho ang pinasukan ko hanggang sa mag-boksing na ako.?
?All the things Mama taught me about God, about helping people, I followed to the letter,? he remarked. ?Now that I am in a position to help, I want as many people as I could na guminhawa at tumaas ang kalagayan sa buhay. ?
?But as the saying goes, charity begins at home. So I started with my family. Si Mama pinagpagawaan ko ng bahay. Si Papa (estranged father Rosalio), ganun din, lahat ng kapatid ko (Isidra, the eldest), Bobby, Roel and other siblings.
?All that was deprived of me because of poverty, education, maginhawang pamumuhay, etc. I provided to my wife Jinkee, and our children (Jimuel, Michael, Princess, Queenie and Israel)? he said.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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