Let’s move on from Pac-May, Mary Jane

THE nation has to move on from the Pacquiao debacle in Las Vegas and the saga of Mary Jane Veloso. They’re draining too much of the people’s emotions. But first let’s tie up loose ends. What a big letdown the PacquiaoMayweather fight was. Fight of the Century? The term makes the word “hyperbole” inadequate. As it turned out, it wasn’t even worthy of being called fight of the week.

I scored the fight 116-112 for Pacquiao although, admittedly, three of the rounds I gave to Manny could have gone either way. And, since I’m no Bruce McTavish, my scoring doesn’t amount to anything. But still, the fight should have been called a draw.

When one fighter refuses to engage, that’s not much of a bout. The way Mayweather fought is not the type of prizefighting that Latin boxers, including Filipinos, prefer. It’s a mystery to me how Americans can appreciate Mayweather’s style of fighting. Ah well, as I said, let’s move on from that disappointing spectacle of overdone hype. It’s not worth spending more time on.

*** Mary Jane Veloso’s mother backtracked from her ill-advised outburst against President Aquino. Unfortunately for her, the damage had been done. Practically the whole country rained much opprobrium on her for her puzzling diatribe.

But, if you think about it, it’s not puzzling at all.

The Velosos fell into the company and tutelage of people hostile to Aquino. What they must have heard during their stay in Indonesia, initially to say farewell to Mary Jane, was all negative about Aquino and the Philippine government.

So, either by instant osmosis or by direct urging by the activists accompanying the Velosos, the family absorbed the group(s)’ ill-feelings toward Aquino. Thus, the Velosos, through the mother, either unleashed the venom against the President on their own. Or they were coached to go after Aquino and say all the nasty things that the mother said upon arrival here.

In any case, the negative reaction from the public against Mommy Veloso’s rant was so intense she, probably with advice from her activist handlers, took back her words, obviously because the public’s soured mood was bad not only for her, but also for her militant allies.

There are quarters that have been after Aquino for some time now. That is their role, to downplay any government achievement and to magnify mistakes. They want Aquino’s head as a trophy. And to justify their continued existence even though their ideology has been for years fading into irrelevance.

Thus, they keep up the noise. But the more they make noise, the more they isolate themselves from the mainstream and the more they put themselves on the margins of society. You don’t see too many members of the silent majority in their ranks and during protest marches, do you?

I don’t know if, in the present dynamic, these activists are being funded by political players on the opposite side of the ideological divide. Going by accepted wisdom, or zeitgeist, it would seem that that isn’t so. These activists consider themselves as pure ideologues and, thus, wouldn’t accept financial aid from mainstream politicians who also want to weaken Aquino.

But in politics, anything is possible. Politicians have no trouble piggybacking on other forces’ causes if they can achieve their own. The end justifies the means is a Machiavellian tenet that politicians embrace when convenient.

But forces from the left normally keep away from conventional politicians even though in the current setup, some members of the left have allied themselves with mainstream parties, like that of the President and others aligned with him.

Activists are also pragmatic and practical, so any kind of alliance is possible. What I see is the practicality of funding from different sources coming together for a common goal, that of further clipping Aquino’s wings and neutralizing his political power.