THIS will be one of the longest joyous hangovers ever—the euphoria over Manny Pacquiao’s recent victory atop the ring not to die down that easily.
It’s like a running faucet gone haywire. Again fraught with drama, Pacquiao’s latest triumph saw him capture his 12th world-title belt in his 23rd year of professional boxing littered with fairy-tale fantasies. With Pacquiao’s seventh-round knockout of defending champion Lucas Matthysse of Argentina, the Pacman saga continues, indeed.
I saw the fight not as picture-perfect as Mount Mayon.
Matthysse’s vaunted firepower was nowhere to be found.
How can someone who had flattened 36 of his 39 victims be not able to unleash even a single power-laden knockout punch?
Why did Matthysse gift Pacquiao with one knockdown by suddenly kneeling in the fifth round, after getting decked in the third for the fight’s first knockdown?
What the hell was the reason Matthysse had to spit out his mouthpiece in the seventh while kneeling—again—his face not even showing signs of grogginess, his eyes not glassy?
Pacquiao won, all right. Now, forget the kinks. With his first knockout win in nine years, he is back in the limelight.
Las Vegas, here I come again. Good luck, Manny.
But unknown to many, Lexus has been an almost integral part of every famous Pacquiao foray in the beak-busting business. For, since the 2010 Pacquiao-Margarito fight, a slew of intrepid souls would patiently, religiously, converge at the Lexus Showroom at Bonifacio Global City to watch Pacquiao fight on the big silver screen.
It became a Sunday ritual hatched by Danny “Sir John” Isla that has now become a much-cherished, much sought-after tradition in the car world.
Sir John would soon invite Lexus loyal and brand-new customers to mingle with motoring writers, braving the wrath of their respective partners/lovers. For, isn’t a Sunday, the usual day of Pacquiao fights, reserved for the hubbies’ home habit once a week?
So that even as Sir John has retired, his equally great successor, Ramon T. Rodriguez a.k.a. RTR, has vigorously sustained the LPST (Lexus Pacquiao Suspense Theater)—complete, as usual, with liberal servings of breakfast, lunch and, yes, drinks endlessly flowing till the last man standing.
Who said Pacquiao is retiring?
“Nope!” says RTR. “Not to the Lexus throng cum loyal Pacman fans.”
Mahindra airs side
THE statement below was given to me by my dear friend Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa of Star, who is the anchor of Motoring Today, the popular weekly TV program on the car industry. I had to ask Elvis why he had to give it to me and not to Ted Failon of the Failon Ngayon TV show of ABS-CBN. It is at Failon Ngayon where the statement’s subject matter was aired. Elvis Explained:
“Mr. Mabilog [Felix] simply requested me if I could provide you his answer to Mr. Ted Failon’s TV program regarding the Mahindra case. Just like you, he is also my dear friend.”
When friends come knocking at your door, what will you do?
To those not aware of the issue, Failon Ngayon exposed alleged anomalies in the sale of Mahindra Enforcer vehicles to the Philippine National Police during the PNoy administration.
Here is Mahindra’s Felix J. Mabilog:
“The allegation that the DBM/PNP [Department of Budget and Management/Philippine National Police] bidding for the Patrol vehicles was rigged in CAC’s [Columbian Auto Corp.] favor is utterly contrary to the truth. Right from the start, the conditions prescribed in the bidding rules were designed to prevent newcomers like us and other brands [Chinese] from joining the tender. From the start of the bidding process; qualifications, vehicle specifications, post evaluation, prototype inspection/functional testing and the final five-day field and endurance testing, everything was checked and counterchecked to justify our qualification or disqualification.
“In spite of everything, CAC won the bidding ‘fair and square’ as one bidding official commented. We joined the tenders knowing that our products can fully meet and satisfy the demanding requirements of our PNP and can give the most reasonable pricing for said vehicles owing the fact that we are on the distributor side.
“We earnestly joined the bidding to show what a newcomer but prestigious brand like Mahindra can offer to the Filipinos. With luck and the integrity and fairness of handling the bidding process by the members of the DBM/PNP Bids and Awards Committee [BAC], we won. So why are we being castigated for winning a legitimate and honestly conducted government procurement process?”
PEE STOP I missed the BMW 5 early-morning show at the San Miguel Corp. grounds on July 15. Despite the rains, I was told the event was smashingly successful—what with RSA himself gracing the momentous occasion. I had intended to go, but I was deflected by the combined spirited stand of Messrs, Terra Macallan, Glenfiddich and Sake the night before. I do not have a face to show, for now, to Spencer Yu, the newly minted boss at BMW. Why, because he had to personally call me up the day before the bash, saying he had a special breakfast for me waiting. Indeed, when crazy waters pour in, appointments at times get compromised. My apologies, Spencer. I owe you one.