In search of a tourism slogan

Master Blaster
Neil Bravo


President Aquino has thumbed down the proposal to use the come-on slogan “Pilipinas kay ganda” by the Department of Tourism. For reasons the President rely upon strongly, we can only surmise he is not convinced tourists would buy that.

You have to heed the President for that. If he ain’t convinced, so will the rest of the world. Beauty, afterall, is in the eyes of the beholder.

Maybe he did not mean it is wrong. Maybe it isn’t enough. Maybe it isn’t the right thing.

In a news item, the President said “the stakeholders appear unsatisfied. Perhaps it’s automatic that it no longer needs fine-tuning, but a replacement that will be more appropriate.” He told that to reporters in Malacañang after receiving world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

This came after a heap of negative comments greeted the announcement of the new slogan. The public did not seem to find it the right pitch. One of the brickbats was that it was phrased in Filipino which the target foreign tourism market could not understand. Another was that people did not like the accompanying design.

People will always have a say in this country. In a democratic culture which the President has the moral obligation to pursue as a legacy of his late mom’s inspirational leadership in toppling a dictatorial regime, you have to listen to public pulse.

The President is not about to alter the course. That is the defining hallmark of the Aquino family leadership tradition.

So what is the slogan going to be now?

That is the question.

First, some people threw in some pitch. Make Manny Pacquiao the poster boy of the country.

Hmmm, not a bad idea.

Veteran sports journalist Ronnie Nathanielsz wrote on his facebook page that a friend suggested Manny pose with the rice terraces of the Mountain Province in the background. The caption should go like “The Eighth Wonders of the World” which are both found in the country.

Manny is eight-time world champion and the only boxer in history to achieve that. The rice terraces landscape has also been mentioned the eighth wonder of the world.

Not a bad idea really.

Will Manny be the poster boy we are looking for?

For all the giant billboards here and everywhere he fights. For all the images flashed in every sports website. For every highlight reel shown in global channels. For all the guestings he had in American television shows. And for the millions around the world who stop to watch everytime Manny fights.

Would that not be enough reason?

Would that not be a one-dimensional campaign catering to a particular market? Would you rather put Manny in swimwear posing by our world-renowned beaches than probably a Marianne, Angel or a Venus?

Manny in polka dot bikini would be ridiculous. That would be like Shaquille O’Neal walking in the long beach of Miami in pink Speedo.

This could be Manny’s biggest fight yet. To eradicate from the minds of our friends from around the world that we are a safe place to go. Not that it would be safe to go up in the ring with Manny. It sure ain’t. But Manny would be a better product than perhaps a wide-eyed Tarsier. A better reason to come.

Maybe people will be interested to watch and listen to Manny deliver a privilege speech in Congress. If this is what we need, let us put Congress in the Big Dome and make Manny speak every session, everyday.

Whatever, the President can help himself with a little take from Manny’s popular line “you know.”

PNoy knows.

He can make Manny the poster boy anytime because Pacman knows. Then he can appoint Liz Uy as tourism secretary to give us a good look because Liz Uy knows.

The beauty of this country is that everyone seems to know. Everyone loves to pick up an issue and say something about it. From travel advisories to Vietnamese wine. From boxing to tourism.

We are a country who knows.

Aahh, forget about the criticisms on slogans written in the native language. We can try broken English for a change and generate curiosity. Afterall, curiosity is the murderer of ignorance.

Pardon the pun but what is good English if we cannot understand it like roasted highland legumes?

Come on. Let’s love our own uniqueness. Before you tweet the taste of a Vietnamese wine, drenk yur magnulya melk pers.

How about this slogan: “Philippines knows.” With matching image of the signature Pinoy nose instead of a tarsier.

I can see the punches coming.

Ouch.

A travel advisory to Mayweather

MASTER BLASTER
Neil Bravo


The weatherman in Texas must have read a different forecast last Sunday.

I wondered. Where was the Tornado from Tijuana?

There was but a trickle of shower from the supposed Tijuana Tornado. Even if it developed into a full-blown force of nature, Manny Pacquiao would still have survived it. In fact, any person from the Philippines not named Manny Pacquiao would still have survived it.

Antonio Margarito, the Mexican hombre nicknamed Tijuana Tornado, did not stand up to his name on Sunday. He did not come to blow away Manny. At best, he was a mere gust of wind that came in sporadically. Intermittent. Not even enough to blow your hair dry.

It was a case of the twister becoming the twisted. A far cry from a Katrina.

I still wondered. Where was the Tornado from Tijuana?

In contrast, Manny Pacquiao went like thousands of thundering typhoons. Sweeping through Margarito’s landscape and blowing away his good looks. At the end of the fight, his face bore traces of a typhoon-battered barrio. Manny whipped a storm not even CNN weatherman Rob Marciano anticipated. Not even the most sophisticated of radars could track Manny’s blistering barrage.

This may be an overkill of an overmatched fight whose chapter had to be closed by now. Margarito had undergone surgery to repair a damaged orbital bone and to straighten up his nose. He can run again in 60 days. He is history as far as the chapter on Pacqquiao’s Butchered Mexican List.

Where does the Mexican go from here? I suspect his career may be over. He cannot fight in Nevada where boxing’s big cards are staged. Remember, only a Manny Pacquiao fights in Texas and makes it as exciting as Vegas. Margarito, mothballed for two years for illegal handwraps, does not have a license to fight in Vegas. Jerry Jones, WBC’s Man of the Year, is not utterly foolish to put up a card in Texas with Margarito fighting another man not named Manny Pacquiao.

But the future does not look bleak for Margarito. This is the good thing about fighting a Manny Pacquiao. Margarito can laugh all the way to the bank with a cool five million dollars in loot. Margarito has gone the way of a Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton. They were never the same again after the fight with the Pacman. They can forget boxing and never to fight again. Their bank account is fat. Something they may never earn in several fights against boxers not named Manny Pacquiao.

In short, a fight with Manny Pacquiao is a retirement package every boxer can be wishing for. It’s a hard-to-resist lump sum package from your security system. It’s like winning the coveted lotto prize everyone in this country is crazy about.

I wondered no more. Where was the Tornado from Tijuana?

No reason to look for one. The force of nature may just be a freak of nature. Call him Tony the Tiny Trickle instead.

It did not come on Sunday. Perhaps the Tornado was so caught up with the travel advisory against the Philippines it stayed in Tijuana. I would advise the same thing to American Floyd Mayweather too. If he watched Manny Pacquiao destroy Margarito, he is better off heeding the travel advisory to face a man named Manny Pacquiao.

Somebody better tweet Mayweather now.

Here is a man from a country some nations forbid their citizens to travel to for threats of terrorism. Valid or not, this man has sowed terror where he fights. In Vegas. In Texas. Terror is in the eyes of a happy victim like Margarito. Not in the eyes of millions around the world who are awe-struck by a little man from a ‘feared’ land.

For the rest of the world, 36 minutes of Manny Pacquiao is worth travelling for and worth paying to watch for. No matter which part of the globe you are, you come to watch a man named Manny Pacquiao.

Travel advisory and all.

Tornado or none at all.

The weatherman from Texas could have reported wrongly the coming of a Tornado from Tijuana. Good thing is, he can keep his job.

In the Philippines, if you report a weather forecast erroneously, you are fired.

A servant and a gentleman

Master Blaster
Neil Bravo


Congressman Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, eight-time world champion, legislator, public servant, philanthropist.

You can add one more. Billionaire.

Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars must have wished they were Manny Pacquiao when they sang “I wanna be a billionaire.” Just about everything on their wish list is already happening to the Pacman.

Yes, I agree with Travie and Bruno, there are just so many things you can do when you’re a billionaire. You can buy all the things you never had. Be on the cover of Forbes or be on its list of its wealthiest. Or smile next to Oprah or sing on Jimmy Kemmel show.

Manny can charter a Boeing 757 to fly his 187 family and friends, buy himself an Armani three-piece, wrap Jinky with a Burberry or swing a Louie Vuitton bag on Mommy D. Oh, all there is a Master Card can buy.

Afterall, he is a billionaire.

What’s a quick 36-minute workout with an easy target worth $25 million is for?

But that is not what Manny is all about. Manny can teach Travie and Bruno, money is not everything. At least, that’s what it is to him now. He has come a long way from mashing flour and yeast in a baker’s sweatshop as a teen. He is no longer the skinny pugilist earning crumbs from lowly fightcards.

Manny’s name is on the lips of Bill Clinton, in the campaign of Harry Reid, and in the articles of just about every respectable boxing analyst in the world. And after filling the Cowboys Stadium with nearly 42,000 fans and recording more wins that the Cowboys of Dallas this year, Jerry Jones should be thinking of changing the name of the colossal sports facility to Manny Pacquiao Stadium.

Last Sunday, Manny fought a perfect five rounds. Flirted with disaster in the sixth. Then showed the world a different fighter in the last six rounds. Manny explicitly redefined boxing from its savage classification to an artform. Not that he painted Margarito’s face like a Picasso painting. He simply showed the world that being a gentleman is foremost the best quality of an athlete more than his brute force and power.

After Sunday’s fight, I am now convinced that Manny’s best weapon is not his speed but his compassion. We heard him say boxing is not about killing each other. In a fight so surprisingly lopsided, he can take out the taller and heavier Margarito with one more barrage. It did not come. He held back. He asked the ref to mercifully stop the carnage. He could not hurt him more. Here was a man almost blinded by the beating he has taken from a virtuoso whose gloves worked like a brush creating a masterpiece on a canvas. Manny could not take it allowing his dreaded hands to destroy this man. He has a loving wife and a kid too. His heart may be a warrior but he has no fight left to give.

Manny walked away. His intent to bring down this man softened by a compassionate heart. There is no reason to further beat him up. There is no reason to floor him down when he can let him walk up and still get the W and his record eighth title.

No title is more valuable than a man’s compassion for others. Those eight world titles are no valuable than an act of valour. He understood and lived with the rules of engagement. Only a gentleman of the highest order can live with such ideals.

For that, Manny deserves a medal for a humanitarian stand. A prize as priceless as millions of money in the bank, as noble as a Nobel, as famed as a Pulitzer, or as dignified as a Harvard doctorate degree for humanis causa.

Make Manny the year-ending cover of Time, Newsweek or Forbes. Make him a UN ambassador.

In my book, Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao is Man of the Year.

Manny's perfect world

MASTER BLASTER
Neil Bravo


The world comes to a halt this Sunday in anticipation of another grand display of ringmanship by global boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.

This has become a hackneyed line everytime the Pacman fights, but sans all the cliche fatigue, let me pass up on this one for yet another time. Manny's fight with another Mexican hombre Antonio Margarito on Sunday will keep everyone in their homes or in pay-per-view screening hubs from elsewhere around the globe.

The hype is over and all that remains is who gets to raise his arms in triumph in Texas.

Without a doubt, Manny is poised to win in whatever fashion--by a KO or a decision. That's how the storyline goes from the draft of any boxing genius. Save a very few perhaps whose main reason for a possible reversal will be Manny's very own making--a less than a hundred percent preparation in training camp, or a destruction from politics.

But that has always been the case. There is always a plot in every Pacman fight and that makes every Pacman fight interesting.

It could either be his adventures with women, misadventures with contracts, politics or entertainment. I personally doff my hat to the spin doctor for weaving a web of controversies that should only bring about the public's keen interest in Manny's fights. Not that I believe that this is a faked plot.

There are real plots in Manny's camp and very few of those are known to us. But who cares? Everytime we see Manny rant and chant with his fists in training, we are blown away like he just spun a tornado. And we are caught in an almost robotic adherence to the theory that you can't hit what you can't catch. You can't beat what you can't hit.

Caution fellas, there is always an accompanying antithesis to a proven theorem even in the sweet science of boxing. Margarito is slow. Almost turtlish that Gerry Penalosa said his punches come with a permission to hit. But lo, beware of the turtle. Remember what the turtle had done to the monkey in our grade school folktale?

Alright, this isn't a race and Manny ain't a stupid monkey to succumb to Margarito's ploy. Manny will not be overcomplacent even against a turtle.

Will it be pakyaw or pakyas?

I see Pacquiao swallow Margarito like the little worm in a Mexican tequila. Manny will still end up the lone star of the night in the Lone Star state of Texas this Sunday.

And then he can sing after the concert. Drink up Mexican beer Corona for a change and watch Mommy sip Margarita straight out of Tijuana.

All that for a perfect ending of a perfect story.

Because in a perfect world and on a perfect night, Manny is indestructible.

Tim Lincecum and more on RA 9064

Master Blaster
Neil Bravo


Tim Lincecum, the long-haired starting pitcher of the newly-crowned World Series champs San Francisco Giants, is half-Filipino.

Tim started for the Giants in Game 1 facing the highly-rated Cliff Lee of the Texas Rangers. Lee was battered with eight hits and Lincecum held his own against the Rangers to snatch the Game 1 win against Lee. That giant win in Game 1 propped the baseball club from the Bay Area to eventually win the series 4-1.

It took another outstanding job at the mound by Tim in Game 5, repeating over the hard-luck Lee, to make it two straight against one of the most feared pitchers in the majors.

Incidentally, Tim is the second highest-earning athlete with Filipino roots next only to seven-time world champ Manny Pacquiao according to Forbes magazine. Tim’s mother Rebecca Asis is a full-blooded Pinay. Incidentally too, another Fil-Am athlete Ana Julaton, is a dyed-in-the-wool Giants fan. She once delivered the opening pitch in one of the Giants’ games this season wearing a Giants jersey with her moniker “Hurricane” at the back.

Tim Lincecum turned pro in 2007 and with his impressive World Series performance, his market value is expected to be raised antes higher when the next season begins. Meantime, Cliff Lee could be packing his bags and head to the bullpen of the New York Yankees next year.

Now back to the subject matter in our previous column—Republic Act 9064 or the sports benefits and incentives act of 2001.

I have pointed out earlier that RA 9064 should be replicated in the local government levels to apply to local athletes, coaches and trainers.

But unlike RA 9064, a local legislation should be responsive to the state of sports in the local level. Let me extensively discuss this in the light of the many unsettled arguments and conflicts besetting local sports.

RA 9064 is crafted within the purview of the Olympic movement. The structural framework which was made as a basis for the statute is the Olympic structure of competitions from the quadrennial world championships, the quadrennial summer Olympic games, the quadrennial Asian Games, and the biennial Southeast Asian Games. These competitions flow under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) framework which has for its participants all accredited national sports associations (NSAs) under the umbrella of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

Simply put, the law applies to competitions within the family of the national sports associations recognized by the POC and the IOC. And when you speak of the Olympic structure, the family is very exclusive. Strictly exclusive. It does not allow for a stranger. No gatecrashers allowed.

A legitimate conflict arises because not all sports competitions are conducted under the Olympic family. There are other sports competitions conducted by sports federations outside that family. These organizations also conduct their own national and international competitions.

To paraphrase things, the conflict in sports can be compared to classic conflicts in religion. One religion says it is exclusive, another says they deserve equal treatment. It is not a simple conflict, I must say. It is a complex one which has to be addressed properly by appropriate legislation.

The problem becomes even more complex when you do not define the territories accordingly. Let me cite the Davao City Sports Council, the supposed umbrella organization of NSAs in the city. Having existed under the NSA concept, it follows that it exists under the Olympic structure. Problem with the DCSC is that it reportedly recognized representations from non-NSA recognized associations. It likewise did not recognize the representation of those who should legitimately represent their respective NSAs. Meaning, there are de facto representatives within the Council.

There is also the conflict of the non-NSAs under the Olympic family to demand for recognition and support from the Council and the local government.

For argumentative purposes, we will not lay judgment on the legitimacy of representation and who really deserves government support and recognition. It is simple, if the law says the criteria is the Olympic structure, apply the law. But if the criteria itself is convoluted, the recognized body loses moral ground to impose the law.

Under the recognized doctrine of equal protection, non-DCSC members or non-NSAs who exists to carry out the same noble intention of promoting sports in this territory can also demand for support from government.

Therefore, we come down to this. Unless you see this vacuum, you will never end the conflicts in local sports. This is where appropriate local legislation is needed to put order to the state of sports. Those demanding for support and recognition cannot make a different interpretation of laws designed under the Olympic framework nor expand its application.

One just cannot demand if the law says it applies only to a particular class of achievers.

Even if you are Tim Lincecum or Manny Pacquiao.

Sports incentives under RA 9064

Master Blaster
Neil Bravo


In a country whose development in sports is always confronted with financial issues, a good legislation and its implementation could just be the shot in the arm needed to put life back to the sick Filipino sportsman.

Republic Act 9064 or the sports incentives law may well be the fresh fully-loaded oxygen tank to the life-support system of Philippine sports. With the implementation of this law, the future looks good for Filipino athletes, coaches and trainers—past, present and future.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia has given the green light to the release of incentives of all past achievers—athletes, coaches and trainers alike—under RA 9064.

The sports incentives law, enacted by Congress on April 5, 2001, is known as “an act granting cash and other non-monetary benefits and incentives to national athletes, coaches and trainers, appropriating funds therefore and for other purposes.”

The beauty of RA 9064 is that it provides for such benefits as scholarships, housing priority, SSS coverage, discounts for travels and entertainment, retirement and death benefits, among others. Establishments extending the privileges to the achievers can charge the sales as tax credits.

Aside from providing athletes, coaches and their trainers something to look forward to everytime they fight for the flag in international competitions, the good thing about this law is that it applies retroactively to all achievers before its enactment in 2001. Meaning, those who have qualified under Section 8 of the incentives law except SEA Games achievers are entitled to all the benefits and incentives.

The sports incentives law works like the more popular legislations of equal application like the Senior Citizens Law. It just probably lacks the force it needed to fully implement the same.

The law has been passed way back in 2001 and I just could not imagine why it took our leaders this long to finally put this law grinding. According to Section 13 of this law, the PSC in coordination with the POC, DepEd, CHED, TESDA and other agencies shall promulgate and issue the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9064. The problem with past PSC administrations is that they were either not in good terms with the POC or are busy playing golf during office hours or tinkering on some government contracts.

The IRR was supposed to have been promulgated within 60 days after the enactment of the said law. This means had the past PSC worked out on the formulation of the IRR, the law could have been ready for implementation as early as the third quarter of 2001. It took more than 9 years to recognize the true worth of this legislation. But with Chairman Garcia working well with POC president Peping Cojuangco, and with President Noy’s marching orders, the law is now in good hands.

We are upbeat that with the initiative of Chairman Garcia, the IRR will soon be passed. I don’t see any glitches with the POC, as well as with the DepEd, CHED, TESDA and other agencies in the government.

It took a dyed-in-the-wool sportsman in Chairman Garcia to appreciate the value of recognition. Incidentally, 63-year old Garcia is himself a former national team coach in golf. Garcia was coach of the RP squad which produced a gold medal through Ramon Brobio in men’s golf. Brobio gave the country a gold medal in golf at the Asian Games when he bested the field to win the men's individual golf title. Before this, Brobio became the first triple winner of the 18th junior world golf championship held in San Diego, California on July 18, 1985.

Brobio and several other athletes from all over the country—Davao achievers included—indeed deserve the privileges of one who has brought honor to the country in the field of sports.

And then there’s the ripple effect. RA 9064 could also serve as a legal basis for local governments to streamline sports incentives and benefits into the local development agenda. There is now a legal framework from which LGUs with equivalent legislations like Davao City could either revisit and revise, or for LGUs without such legislations to draft one.

I remember this is one area that has always been the subject of debates everytime a local athlete comes home a winner in sports competitions both national and international. The incentives law can give the local legislators to craft an ordinance with clear-cut parameters. This will finally avoid the confusion of extending incentives to local athletes.

There are requisites for the application of RA 9064 though, and this should be well understood by the sporting community. There are specific recognized competitions like the Olympics, the quadrennial World Championships, the Asian Games and the SEA Games which limits the coverage of the law. Coaches and trainers must also be recognized members of the Philippine Coaches Accreditation Council (PCAC).

What I am saying is that achievers must fall under the Olympic structure in terms of affiliation. That is why it is important for the local government units to replicate the legislation but address the other sporting affiliations and parameters not covered by the statute.

That is another important subject matter and we will discuss that in another column. For now, let’s rave at this development. There really are some things more important in sports administration that our past leaders have failed miserably to appreciate and address.

You do not even have to be a visionary to implement what is already enacted.

What you need here is plain, simple common sense.