Maturity is the name of the game

Manny Pacquiao confidante Rex “Wakee” Salud on Sunday made two vows.

He said he would immediately apologize to Pacquiao.

Salud also said he would not talk to media again or issue any statement.

All this resulted from allegations made in the media that Pacquiao was totally bankrupt.

Salud, a high-profile figure in the Pacquiao retinue, had supposedly told a Cebu reporter that Pacquiao has gone penniless.

Salud said he made the remark casually and did not expect it to see print or whatever.

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Well, President Noynoy Aquino himself obviously thought he was being both cute and casual in initially refusing to abolish the abominable pork barrel.

Just like that  and look at the storm the casual—if careless—intimation spawned.

Am rushing this piece very early Monday with everybody in my poor neighborhood fast asleep. The idea is to be able to move out early, take a jeepney from Sta. Ana-Tulay to Padre Faura, then walk to the Luneta for the anti-pork rally.

No, I didn’t have to be goaded into joining the march.

This is as spontaneous as in that sparkling evening in January 1986, when I headed to Rizal Park, after having put to bed that week’s issue of Joe Burgos’ We Forum (“A Nation Cheated”), to cheer Tita Cory as she declared a boycott against products of identified Marcos cronies.

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Regarding Wakee Salud, he need not apologize to Pacquiao.

But he should also drop that childish threat to sue the reporter who “misquoted” him.

For the record, Pacquiao is not and will never be bankrupt.

Maybe he ran out of cash at the height of the campaign period in the last midterm polls when he was reportedly milked dry by mayors in his congressional district. Pacquiao’s lovely wife Jinkee ran and won as vice governor of Sarangani, reportedly on the very expensive support of the greedy town executives.

Nothing wrong with Salud commenting about the well-invested Congressman Pacquiao not being liquid with his finances.

What’s truly ugly was the glaring intent of certain sectors, including a giant television network, to use the bankruptcy allegations to put Pacquiao down.

You see, Pacquiao, a living hero, will soon be venturing into a crucial must-win fight against the younger, bigger Brandon Rios.

Let’s all go out to support him.

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Maybe this need not be told here, but for whatever it’s worth, this is a time Pacquiao will have to pack tons of maturity into the fight proper on Nov. 24 in Macau.

The same goes for gambler Wakee Salud when he next starts blabbing about.

Maturity is the name of the game.

In fact, given some sincerity and loads of maturity, President Aquino could’ve avoided the first full-blown upheaval he would be facing (at this reporting) in his term.

As one protester who texted me wondering if I would be at the Luneta for the rally said,  “We must do something quick, something is really wrong with the President’s head.”