Homecourt advantage, Tiger City-style

Win or lose, there can only be one sure thing about the Philippine Azkals when they play before the home crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium today.

The celebrated national booters should be able to improve on their forgettable performance last Sunday, when they were humbled 3-0 by the mighty Kuwaiti team.
There again should be memorable moments for the Azkals, hopefully similar to those savored by local fans when their newfound sports heroes thrashed Sri Lanka, 4-0, also at the Rizal Memorial field much earlier.
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It may not be as cozy as that screaming win over Sri Lanka, but with the comforts of familiar turf, the so-called hometown advantage, the Azkals should be able to storm back and regain the full admiration of Filipino fans.
Again, there’s no promise of a sure win, but there definitely will be no mismatch.
There should a classic struggle, with both sides grimly refusing to yield ground.
If in boxing, there won’t be a chance for the referee to step in and stop the carnage.

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Anyway, looking closer at the game of life, like this daily drama being played out among small people trying to make both ends meet in the Mandaluyong City wet market, my daily early morning destination by foot, there has suddenly rose this cry for police authorities to show up and stop a glaring mismatch.
Armando “Mandy” Lopez, 48, is now confined at the Lourdes Hospital after he was shot point-blank by a robber inside his popular meat stall a little after 1 p.m. last Sunday.
Mandy, who landed at the ICU after taking a bullet in the mouth, has been declared out of danger.
But he may not be able to talk shortly.
His tongue has been slashed by the gunfire, the victim now being fed through a tube in his broken throat

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Taken by the robber was half a million pesos in cash, together with valuables that included a laptop and cellphone.
Normally, the incident could be brushed off as part of that daily risk honest wage earners face in our chaotic, lawless midst.
But Mang Boy “Puti” Sobreros, a kind and burly vegetable vendor, swears he’s plainly lucky that no harm has come his way, thus far.
“Basta ako, lagi na lang dasal sa Diyos (All I do is just pray),” he told the Inquirer yesterday.

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The Inquirer has learned that Mandy Lopez was already the fifth victim of motorcycle-riding hold-up men in the last six months.
Rey Bautista, who deals in dry noodles, spices and assorted condiments, confirmed that his comely wife Nene was threatened with a gun to the forehead before a tall, dark man, obviously belonging to the same band, took her jewelry and cash of P40,000 last January.
Butcher Louie Sañano, who works under Munting Palengke big boss Bobby de los Santos, has told of four other victims before Lopez.
There was a collector who was also shot point-blank and from whom P200,000 was grabbed; a bigtime noodles trader who got held up in broad daylight, and a straying Indian profiteer.

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As in all past stick-ups, there was no police presence, Sañano reported.
When they ran to the sub-station off Gen. Kalentong, some 50 steps from the crime scene last Sunday, Sañano said there was one sleepy female cop on the desk, who predictably failed to respond.
The streetwise butcher has also started to wonder if Mayor Benhur Abalos was aware of the daytime crimes being perpetrated in that sub-mart area outside the Marketplace, the main hub off Kalentong.
Funny, Sañano cries, how it has become a regular mismatch between crooks and simple folks in Tiger City.
Only in this case, the robbers operate freely, unmolested, as though they were operating in the comforts of their own homecourt, maybe protected by the very cops who were supposed to go after them.

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(FLASH: As we went to press, Mayor Benhur Abalos has ordered sustained police presence in the troubled market area, the Office of the Mayor told the Inquirer.
“There’s actually another case, the suspects victimizing a big computer shop in San Rafael,” spokesperson Jimmy Isidro said.
Isidro confided that, other than patrol cops, Abalos has also assigned plainclothes policemen in the area “so as not to unduly alert criminals.”)