Dreaming Beyond Our Lifetime
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 03 Jul 2011
Shortly before noon Sunday, (July 3 in the Philippines), a 25-year-old poor boy from my province in Southern Mindanao who only managed to get to first year in college, will climb up the ring in the city of Hermosillo in the middle of the desert in Sonora, Mexico to attempt to win the first world boxing title for North Cotabato.
For flyweight Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong, 22 wins, 3 losses, 14 KOs, tonight's fight in faraway Mexico is an opportunity to fulfill a dream he has nurtured since he was 13 years old: to become a world boxing champion.
Winning the world flyweight championship will certainly change the life of the 5' 5" tall Dapudong. Already, with his small earnings from previous fights, Edrin has bought a small piece of land in his village in M'lang, North Cotabato where he will plant oil palm, one of the more profitable agricultural crops in the south now.
Tonight's event weighs heavier on me. Edrin will be the second boxer from North Cotabato discovered and developed in the grassroots boxing program I started in 1998 in my first year as Governor of the province, who will attempt to win a world boxing title.
In April this year, another young boy from Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, 21-year-old Rommel Asenjo, lost in his bid to win the World Boxing Organization (WBO) miniflyweight title in Mexico City.
Both Edrin and Rommel, including about a dozen other young boxers under my care now, were discovered and developed under a program called "Paboksing Para sa Masa" which my brothers Efren (now mayor of Magpet town), Noli and Socrates handled for the nine years that I was provincial governor, the three years that I was vice governor, and which we are pursuing until today even when I am already out of politics.
It was and still is an experiment or better still a treatise. I wanted to prove that successful development programs are results of long-term planning done without being affected by the 3-year term of politicians who usually implement "quickie" projects to make them look good in time for the next election.
In this age of instant coffee, ramen noodles in cups and microwave ovens, I wanted to prove that successful governance is not achieved overnight.
That is why instead of constructing waiting sheds along highways with my name emblazoned, I built rural roads and bridges; instead dole-outs, I gave out rubber tree, oil palm, coconut and banana planting materials; and instead of buying votes to win my elections, I offered college scholarships to thousands of young children.
My theory? Effective governance is best achieved by planning beyond the usual political terms, even beyond our lifetime.
Oh, I know I don't and won't have a lot of believers in this kind of perspective in governance, not in this era when politicians project themselves as moviestars even wearing makeups to look good, rather than work to do good.
Changing the mindset of people and politicians could be difficult and not easily achievable. I lost the last elections to a moneyed political family backed by an administration which did not like my maverick attitude, especially when I opposed Malacanang's attempt to partition the country and create an "Islamic State" in the south just to yield to the demands and terrorism of a rebel group.
Edrin's victory tonight is something that I pray for because then it will prove my treatise that successful local government programs must be designed without being stymied by the three-year or six-year political terms of elected officials.
While I believe that Edrin has what it takes to win the world title tonight, he is not 100 per cent sure of victory as there are factors that could affect his performance: the long and rigorous travel from the Philippines to Mexico, the searing heat of the Mexican desert and maybe a more superior opponent.
But even if Edrin fails tonight, it will not mean the end of my advocacy to change our people's and elected leaders' perspective of development planning.
One, or even two setbacks, does not mean defeat. It could only be used in perfecting the methods in achieving a successful program.
This is a dream that I will continue to pursue. It is a dream that could even outlive me.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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