No hitting below the PDI belt, please

THERE was no mention of Philippine sports in President Aquino’s farewell Sona, which was just right because there was nothing richly nice about the subject anyway.

There was no mention of Manny Pacquiao in the State of the Nation Address, which was hard to believe considering the President had extolled the national boxing superhero before and after his all-revealing defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

This could’ve been caused by simple oversight?
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Of course, it was not a mere slip which had led to the snub on the super heroic team of slain Special Action Fighters (SAF 44), a glaring error which may never get an honest explanation from the President.
There are a few other topics worth tackling here, but pardon this reference to a petty and insignificant item.

We personally don’t feel disturbed by the dirty allegation because it was wholly unfounded.
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Here: “Malamang pinagsabihan ka huwag galawin ang mga istorya that’s got to do with (Louie) Espinosa. Oks lang ’yon. Talagang ganyan ang buhay. (Your story on the Espinosa championship purse case has obviously been censored. Just fine. That’s life).”

That was from a trusted friend, a Filipino boxing expert now based in California.

I had thought of just shrugging it off; but, on hindsight, decided to respond because of the cheap picture it had tried to paint about  the respected institution I proudly work for.

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To start with, it’s the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) which last June broke the news about the Court of Appeals ordering payment of the purse (P17 million) Espinosa earned in a championship bout in Koronadal, South Cotabato way back in 1997.

For a follow-up column, we called the attention of the chair of the Games and Amusements Board who reportedly advised Espinosa to take it easy and be extra courteous in dealing with “very important people” behind the non-payment of the championship purse.

This follow-up piece, we did on the request of this California-based Filipino boxing expert.
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There was nothing new and we were waiting for developments, like Espinosa seeking out the proper sources or agencies to collect his delayed purse.

We tried to contact the kindly lawyer, Ramon Maronilla, who helped Espinosa win his re-filed case for free.

If anything of significance happens, we promise to promptly report it.
Here’s hoping there’ll be a stop to this insinuation about censorship in the Inquirer. Wala namang ganyanan mga kaibigan.