Alyansa and the Pac-Man

TRACES OF TRUTH

By Tracy Cabrera 

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. — US president Richard Nixon

MAYPAJO, Caloocan City — Midway his term as the country’s chief executive, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM) has begun a new battlecry: “Alyansa, all the way!”

But none of the candidates of the president’s ‘Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas’ topped the 2025 Senate race in the recently concluded midterm elections last May 12 and, with his own sister leaving his side, the situation bodes ill as the rift between the Marcoses and the Dutertes deepens, causing apprehension among the citizenry who worry about their lot as most depend on subsidies, or the so-called ‘ayudas’, which are generally mere doleouts from politicians who just want their support. 

In this year’s polls, Marcos Jr. campaigned for 90 days to garner the voters’ nod for his slate of 12 senators and then 11 (in some sorties, he only campaigned for 10). The son of the late strongman, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., argued his senatorial bets were made up of leaders who were aligned with the administration’s vision for the country and his vaunted  ‘Bagong Pilipinas’.

Still, Alyansa failed to dominate, by any stretch of the imagination, the 2025 Senate race.

So, what does this mean for Marcos Jr. and the rest of his term?

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THE country’s boxing icon Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Pacquiao is set to return to the ring this year at 46-years-old and many are questioning if this would also bode ill for the eight-division world champion and former pound-for-pound king. 

The People’s Champ has teased a comeback for many years and is finally ready to make good on his promise when he steps through the ropes to face a much younger opponent in the person of 29-year-old World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title holder Mario Barrios of the United States this July.

Though there is great respect for the ‘Pac-Man’, boxing fans, fighters and analysts alike have criticized the idea that he can return straight into a world title shot after four years out of the ring and a couple of lacklustre exhibition matches.

We’re actually bemused by the fact that the fight has been sanctioned, even despite Pacquiao’s storied career.

Need the former senator be advised that this is boxing? At most times, age matters in the sport and time and again, an aging body usually gives way to a more powerful and youthful physique – counting out experience, of course. 

But if you can let a 58-year-old Mike Tyson box Jake Paul, Manny Pacquiao coming back at 46 doesn’t look too bad, doesn’t it? Still, Manny is coming back fighting for a world title – and I say this with love – how has he got that world title shot? He’s been retired six years. He’s got that on previous successes. To walk straight into a world title fight? How is that allowed possible?

On his retirement, he must’ve dropped out the rankings, yet all of a sudden he’s making a comeback and they put him straight in at number one contender. 

He was hell of a fighter a few years back, but we don’t know what he’s gonna be like today. 

Still, the ‘Pac-Man’ should consider his loss for a comeback as senator in this year’s midterm elections, which in his first try in 2016 was really a cinch as he garnered more than 16 million votes for the effort. 

So we ask, does his defeat in this year’s senatorial derby forecast something bad in his return to the boxing arena? 

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