Tim Tebow’s next stop is Davao City

It was out of character for Tim Tebow to make a splash in Hollywood last week.

But to the surprise of the media, there he was making the rounds, stopping by the Wild Card Gym on Vine Street, to renew his country ties and meet Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao for the first time ever.

Currently a television analyst, the highly popular and highly inconsistent quarterback has been out of the National Football League since 2012.

But he hasn’t given up on his NFL dream, especially after a workout for the Philadelphia Eagles at quarterback recently.

The 27-year-old Tebow dropped by Wild Card to watch Pacquiao train under the watchful eyes of trainer Freddie Roach for his May 2 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

He thanked Pacquiao for taking time from his training to meet him. The Pacman was equally pleased and enjoyed with his rendezvous with the former Denver Broncos quarterback, according to people present at Roach’s gym.

Afterward, the two deeply religious athletes went with friends to dinner to get to know each other better.

Both men shared their encounter on social media, sending out photos of themselves at Wild Card on their Instagram accounts.

“Awesome being with my Filipino and Christian brother,” Tebow, whose parents are American missionaries who spent many years in the Philippines, posted on his Instagram account.

Born in Makati, Tebow and his Christian foundation had a soft opening for the Tebow CURE orthopedic hospital in Davao City late last year.

When it comes to his charity work, Tebow prefers no fanfare.

That’s probably why the six-story hospital for Mindanao’s impoverished children has jutted heavenward in the city’s Lanang district without flourish.

“We received our license from the Department of Health in November 2014 and started seeing patients… the same month,” Leron Lehman, the hospital’s executive director told me.

Lehman said that currently the hospital, built in partnership with CURE International, has a total of 17 beds. It will expand to 30 beds and three operating rooms when completely opened and perform 500 charity surgeries for poor children every year.

“We are still in our soft opening period,” said Lehman. “We are planning our official launch and ribbon cutting on May 1, 2015. Tim Tebow has committed to attend the event.”

I will have more on the Tebow CURE hospital next time.

* * *

The rocking chair sits still now on the porch of the ancestral house in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

My father, its last owner has died, leaving an imprint of a wondrous journey on earth.

Porfirio Directo Della was almost 94 years old when he embarked last week on that voyage to God’s Kingdom to reunite with mom and the rest of the seniors the family loved dearly.

When my sisters and I gaze back in time, our favorite scene is that of dad sitting in that chair—just like our maternal grandfather and great grandfather before him—with everyone in the household reaching for his hand for the age old ritual of mano po (kissing an elder’s hand as a sign of respect).

The brotherhood of that antique rocker has no divine secrets—only good memories of times in a simpler world.

Many thanks to the people who shared our grief. Your gesture is much appreciated.