Defeat is an Orphan but Victory has many Fathers.

Well, that was not exactly how it was said and written but in the case of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, it was
in his shocking knockout defeat to Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez that for a while he found out that he was
an orphan.
As he retreated to his little corner in General Santos City, Pacquiao was alone licking his wounds.
Gone were the people who used to squeeze their faces into the small tv camera fame just to be seen with the
greatest boxer of all times.
"Where are they now?," I remember asking the Pacman during an intimate conversation among close friends in his
mansion in Gensan about two months ago.
"I know they will disappear. I have prepared myself for this," Manny told me.
But yesterday, when the Pacman climbed atop the ring in Macao, China to engage American Brandon Rios in a fight
everybody knew would be a one-sided victory for the Filipino boxing icon, the faces which have long been absent
were suddenly back.
There was former Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson who placed himself in perfect positions for the tv camera and who
appeared like he was the conditioning coach of the Pacman as he stretched and prepared for the fight.
There was Jake Joson, notoriously known in the boxing community as the "Pambansang Anino" (National Shadow)
to the "Pambansang Kamao" (National Fist) continuously pumping his fist not really to root for Pacman but create a
movement which would make him visible in the camera.
There were other familiar faces of not so popular politicians who, without them realizing it, degraded their lofty
positions by relegating themselves to being the carriers of the boxing belt and waving the Philippine flag if only to be
seen by millions of Filipinos, including their voters, in the country.
But true to his character, Pacquiao just allowed these people to enjoy their moments of borrowed glory beside the
Greatest Boxer of All Times.
He moved around the ring, knelt and prayed before the fight, and looked up to the heavens after his victory.
All these he did as behind him, his fair-weather friends tried to outdo each other in squeezing their faces into the tv
camera frame.
In one of the most beautiful post-fight photos I have seen in the Pacquiao fight which appeared in the New York
Times, Manny was shown looking up to the heavens obviously thanking his God as he was hoisted by people who
have been with him through thick and thin.
The picture seemed to suggest that for Manny the only friend that mattered to him is his Maker who makes himself
invisible during the Pacman's moments of glory but who lifts him up in moments of defeat and despair.
In victory and defeat, Manny Pacquiao has a Father.
(Photo credit: The beautiful picture is a Thomas Lee photo for the New York Times.)