OF FATHERS AND SONS
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 14 Nov 2008
It was not intended for me, neither did it come from my own child, but the statement made by world flyweight champion Nonito Donaire, jr. that he does not owe his father anything felt like a dagger that pierced my heart.
Other fathers who read it may have felt the same way. It surely would be more painful on the part of the older Donaire but he is not talking anymore except to say that whatever happens, Nonito Jr. will always be his son.
"I may not have been a model father but I did my best," Nonito Sr. told me yesterday when I reached him by phone. He is in Cebu City now where he intends to put up a gym and train young boxers.
He sounded sad and hurt by the report that Nonito Jr. has made a public pronouncement that his father will cease to be his trainer but managed to say: "I wish him luck."
I felt sad too by the turn of events and how a well-meaning column aimed at shaking three people back to their senses worked the other way around, breaking them farther apart instead.
It was never my intention to put the world champion and his family in a bad light.
The column on the souring relationship between the Donaire father and son team elicited a lot of reactions, some calling it "intrigue and gossip" while others even called me a "gay barber."
The report was certainly not intrigue and gossip because the break up really happened. As to my being gay simply because the column I wrote seemed gossipy, only my wife and my three children could confirm or deny that.
I was amazed though at the varying reactions of Nonito Jr. to the news items that followed that column. Ronnie Nathanielsz quoted him as saying "leave my wife alone."
A coal miner whose face is blackened by soot as he earns a living or a streetsweeper whose body is covered with dust after a hard day's work has every right to complain when the media would pry into their private lives.
After all, they do not make a living through their public appearances.
But politicians, movie stars and sports personalities have no right to demand privacy because their careers hinge on public support. The public who vote for the politician, who buy tickets to watch the movies and shell out hard-earned money for the pay-per-view fights of boxing heroes has every right to know what's going on in the lives of their idols.
When Nonito Donaire, Jr. started tugging his girl friend, who later became his wife, Rachel Marcial, to public functions including appearances at the head tables of the press conferences, he opened her to public scrutiny.
This is something that the young Donaire must understand.
Why didn't Manny Pacquiao demand "privacy" when he was being linked to this girl and that girl? It is because Manny knows and understands that as a sports figure who makes money through public support, he is public property.
When people say that the rift between the Donaire father and son is a family matter that should not be discussed in public, they forget the fact that Donaire Sr. is the trainer of Donaire Jr., with an added color -- they happen to be father and son, as well.
If Freddie Roach, whom Manny calls "Tatay," breaks up with the Pacman, is that not a news item worth writing about and an issue that should be the subject of public scrutiny?
The only difference there is that Roach is not a father to Manny as Nonito Sr. is to the world flyweight champion.
And talking of fathers, what sets Manny Pacquiao apart from Nonito Donaire, Jr?
Well, Manny's father left them when he was young to take a new family.
Did Manny feel bad? I would think so and that would be understandable.
But when Manny Pacquiao became a world champion, he took in his father and introduced him to the world, just as proud as he wore the Philipine flag on his trunks and waved it during his fight.
His father, after all, imperfect as he may be, gave him the gift of life and his countrymen represented by the flag, the gift of love.
Nonito Donaire, Jr. should find time to be with Manny Pacquiao more often and learn the secrets to becoming a great world champion and a sports hero of the Filipino people.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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