Passing Thoughts

The umbilical cord that binds Manny Pacquiao to Mindanao is one of the best things that ever happened to the Land of Promise. Whether Michael Buffer used to announce– the “Pride of General Santos” and later, the “Pride of Sarangani Province”, it makes no distinction at all when regarded as Mindanao.

For the next few days, Mindanao will get its fair share of national and international media attention that is opposite the traditional “restive south, conflict-ridden, strife-torn, war zone, kidnappers’ haven, terrorists’ refuge” kind of convenient media labeling and tagging.

As we turn the pages of online news sites and blogs, and browse through national papers, it’s a sigh of relief to see Mindanao being referred to as Pacman’s humble origin. This is the period when the number of negative stories about Mindanao are outscored, out-punched and virtually KO’d by the stories of Manny’s triumph–particularly with reference to him being congressman of Sarangani and son of Mindanao.

I remember in 2006, I sought the help of Carol Arguillas, MindaNews editor-in-chief, who then tapped Professor Tony de Vera and his associates from UP Mindanao, to undertake a study on national media reportage of Mindanao. Few months later, the study entitled, “Reporting Mindanao: Content Analysis of National Broadsheets and Their Coverage of Mindanao” was completed.

The results weren’t surprising. It validated the findings of an earlier similar study done by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in 2000, which cited that 7-8 out of average 10 stories about Mindanao as reported by major national broadsheets are about war, conflict, kidnapping, terrorism and similar topics revolving around violence.

In the 2006 paper by Carol, Prof. de Vera et al., what was worth noting is that for the duration of the study, negative stories about Mindanao were shun by stories of Manny knocking out Mexican legend Erik Morales. While the stories generally refer to Manny being the greatest boxer, Mindanao was referred to on a number of times as the place of his humble beginnings.

Apart from the usual reduction of crime rates and armed clashes between government forces and rebel groups when the country is in a state of standstill each time Manny fights, the labeling of Mindanao both by national and international media is also accorded with better perspective both in pre-fight and post-fight coverage. And that every time Manny raises the Philippine flag inside the ring, Mindanao in particular, gets a slice of his greatness.