Manila, GenSan to welcome Pacquiao as 'hero, superstar'

Yet another hero's welcome awaits Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in the capital city of Manila and in his hometown of General Santos City in the southern island of Mindanao. The police reported a zero crime rate on Sunday in Manila, as many residents stayed home to watch the game. Elsewhere in the city, residents monitoring the bout put their radio and television on maximum volume, distracting peoople hearing Mass at some churches. General Santos City's Administrator Rodrigo Salangsang on Sunday heaped praise on Pacquiao, saying the boxer’s technical-knockout win in three rounds against Mexico's Eric Morales was "too convincing." "Mas maganda ang laban niya ngayon kesa nakaraan. Siguradong hero’s welcome ang pagdating ni Pacquiao (He did better than before. I am sure he will get a hero’s welcome here)," Salangsang said in an interview on dzBB radio Sunday. Manila Mayor Jose Atienza Jr., who is reportedly wooing Pacquiao to run as his son Ali’s vice mayoralty bet in 2007, promised Pacquiao a "hero’s and superstar’s welcome. Atienza said he did not expect Morales to have a chance against Pacquiao, who had prepared well for the bout. "We will give him a hero’s welcome, a superstar’s welcome, a friend's welcome. He is a friend of Manila," Atienza said. after watching a live feed of the bout at the city sports center in Manila’s Sta. Ana district. Manila Police District OIC Sr. Supt. Danilo Abarzosa said the city registered a "zero crime" rate most of Sunday, as many residents stayed home to watch the bout. Elsewhere in Metro Manila, boxing fans gave Morales an unkind new moniker, calling him "El Tuliro (The Dizzy One)," a play on his nickname "El Terible (The Terrible)." "Kahiya-hiya ang pagkatalo (He lost disgracefully)," said a fan who watched the bout at the Pasay Astrodome in Pasay City. In Manila’s Quiapo district, churchgoers were distracted as the bout was shown on the big screen of a drugstore chain just across Quiapo Church. A television network’s outside-broadcast van and a pickup with newspaper photographers were parked outside the church, while a television crew interviewed vendors outside the church. Making the distraction worse was an ad truck pitching a karaoke microphone endorsed by Pacquiao, which was roaming around the area. Outside the church, some vendors listened to transistor radios, while drivers of diners in Chinatown listened to the blow-by-blow account of the fight on car radios. - GMANews.Tv