INQUIRER Sports

MANNY PACQUIAO, warrior for all seasons, remains the top hit wherever he fights or performs.

He?s the single most desired figure and flavor, a heroic delight inside the ring and out in the streets, out in the park where he could burst into song or figure in a mini concert at the drop of a coin.

Hold it. Pacman?s mother, Dionisia Pacquiao, herself a born star, is not too far behind.

The gregarious Pacmom, as she?s fondly addressed by fans at home, never misses a beat.

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Aling Dionisia or Mommy D., sparkling bundle of joy, has also been thrilling the masa, a top celebrity in her own right.

She was last seen hugging and comforting her legendary son close to the end of the thanksgiving Mass the morning after Pacquiao annexed an unprecedented seventh world boxing crown in Las Vegas.

But could Mommy Pacquiao also get carried away, like most fans of the Pacman?

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Not exactly, but we got this exclusive report from international correspondent Alex Vidal, with whom we shared a room at the Mandalay Bay during the Pacquio fight against Oscar De La Hoya last year.

Vidal says it?s a must that we share the report with Pacquiao fans.

Please read on:

?The spokesman of the Color People Advancement Community (CPAC) in Las Vegas, Nevada has appealed to newly crowned World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight king Manny Pacquiao to ask his mother to be careful with using ?politically incorrect? words when uttering public remarks ?so as not to inflame emotional outrage? from certain groups or individuals in the United States.

?Rodney Surat Whiterspoon, a civil rights activist and CPAC spokesman, said Dionisia, Pacquiao?s mother, may not have realized that it was ?improper? to use the word ?nigger? or ?negro? when referring to the black members of the community in the United States.?

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Witherspoon, in a statement released Nov. 16, said ?she can be forgiven as she appeared to have been disoriented when she used the word ?negro? but someone with basic understanding about the proper use of addressing color people in the United States should educate Madame (Aling Dionisia) Pacquiao.?

From what Vidal gathered, Whiterspoon was referring to Aling Dionisia?s speech delivered after a Sunday Mass at the annex building of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas where she narrated how she became emotionally distressed while witnessing the actual fight between her son and Miguel Angel Cotto at the MGM Grand last Nov. 14.

Vidal said she told the crowd in vernacular that ?I was screaming and yelling at my son to quit because I knew he was suffering and hurting. I offered my life in exchange for the punishment that he was taking.?

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Vidal said Aling Dionisia suddenly brought the house down when she blurted, ?Nagpapasalamat ako hindi lang sa mga Pilipino at pati na rin sa mga Amerikano at mga Negro (?I thank not only the Filipinos but also the Americans and the niggers).?

Vidal said nobody told the mother of Pacquiao that some of those listening in the crowd didn?t find her statement hilarious although everyone burst into laughter.

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Most of those present, however, thought Aling Dionisia didn?t mean any harm to anybody or group when she uttered the statement, Vidal reported.

?She spoke from the bottom of her heart and there was no malice whatsoever except that everybody found her funny,? quipped a male Irish national who attended the Mass just to see the newly crowned WBO champion.

News of the incident quickly spread until it reached the attention of the CPAC.

Honest and ever trusting, Mommy Pacquiao definitely meant no harm.

All she wanted was say thank you. Nothing more.