
Sunday, October 31, 2010
The Legacy of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) - Looking for Gloria

Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Declaration - Rex Mundi Chronicles

“I came to the world in the usual way. At least that was what I was told. I never quite could recall how it was when I first opened my eyes so I had to rely on the testimony of first hand witnesses. No lightning, no thunder, and the heavens did not open. The odds and the gods not being in my favour, I was bound to suffer the fate of the common man.
That I could not permit. I knew then as I know now that destiny is something I could shape. Hence, I insisted and I persisted. And I lay claim to where most resisted.
Notwithstanding what one deserves, one only owns if one would take.
While the road to hell or heaven is paved with good intentions, I have recognized the signs for what they really were - a lame excuse to let life idly pass me by and a pathetic attempt to justify a bleak existence. I had to make my own way…
Youth is but a symphony of colours against a backdrop of a truth I have painted. And when perception is reality, the past simply becomes how I remembered it to be.
Now, lifetimes pass one after the other. I was Jesus, Caesar and Alexander! I have no mother and no father. And what I say are the only things that matter.
Standing at the nexus of time and space, the question of Hermes echoed through the ages and is directed at me:
Know ye not that ye are gods?”
Friday, October 22, 2010
TIKBALANG Incorporated - Prepare for Change!
Friday, October 08, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Way, The Truth & The Life
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Phyrric - Cat is for catastrophe

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Philippine Hostage Taking Crisis & The Police Response

Thursday, August 19, 2010
Next Stop, WONDERLAND

Note: This is about moving on... my thoughts on going to another job. Published in a company news letter in February 2001.
The Inspector

Note: I've written this article for a company news letter. This was published back in July 1999 entitled the Project Inspectors.
Friday, July 23, 2010
With Pacquiao, Mayweather Loses his Swagger


http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/with-pacquiao-mayweather-loses-his-swagger/
With Pacquiao, Mayweather Loses his Swagger

Sweet.
The words are coy and utterly unfit for a king. Mayweather, if he still fancies himself one, has to demand respect. Pacquiao, wanting to fill his coffer and all, declared war to Floyd. A king is not supposed to just move aside to avoid the onslaught.
Floyd just did.
What had happened to Floyd and where’s his swagger?
Say a kid took a bully’s lunch, demanded his pocket money and everything he had. Will the bully ask first what the kid is on before administering a beating?
Or the world’s giving you truckloads of money and a chance for you to prove what you’ve been saying all along. Won’t it be right to just take the money and do your thing?
Actions contrary to the norm would only mean something else. Floyd’s words in response to a direct challenge have no meaning.
Mayweather appears content to just grab the p4p crown through the poll, to battle it out in the court of public opinion – knowing full well that a fantasy fight concocted in man’s mind is winnable, considering he’s perceived to have the more superior skill set. However, once enclosed in the four corners of the ring, reality is sure to take an awful turn. Not having a loss because of a carefully managed boxing career, he sure will not welcome a world of hurt.
And a world of hurt is really what Pacquiao is all about.
The Golden Boy was still golden and shining before he came across the Pacmonster. But Oscar Dela Hoya had learned through 8 painful rounds what the little devil is able to give and what he, in the receiving end, is not able to take. In the face of perpetual onslaught, Dela Hoya hoped for the KO that never came. The experience, which for him is best left unremembered, was enough to make him retire.
The Hitman still had a perfect record at 10 stones (140lbs), never losing his mark at that weight, before being offered the hit on Pacquiao. It was over in 2 rounds and Ricky Hatton got what Dela Hoya had wished for himself. Hatton never really knew what hit him. Ricky was flattened and his career as a boxer is yet to recover, one step to retirement in each passing day – if he’s not there already.
Nevertheless, Mayweather had beaten those men too. But the end results of his fights with them were not as brutal, as decisive, as immediate nor as final. It was never more so in Hatton’s case, where the world was reminded of a primal force that is Pacquiao and the devastating effect of such power when unleashed.
Still, Mayweather had beaten those men too. And he has the same – if not more – of the preternatural skill that Pacquiao has.
The world demanded a clash inside the ring to prove who the better man is. But Mayweather’s not wavering in his conviction, whatever that is.
Perhaps Floyd’s real concern is that the world would stop and watch, and celebrate the fall of the mighty. If Paquiao is able to do to him what was done to Hatton, with the whole world watching, will he be able to live with the memory forever?
Hatton barely could when his pride is but a fraction of that of Mayweather. Pacquiao is all about pain and Mayweather is not ready for that.
Mayweather has retired, un-retired, and has been dangling with retirement. Pacquiao could make that permanent for him.
“I’m not interested in rushing to do anything right now. I’m not really thinking about boxing right now… Just relaxing.”
Floyd has lost the edge, the swagger and has given up the claim to Boxing’s Greatest Ever.
And while the King was looking down, the Jester stole his thorny crown. The courtroom was adjourned…
Floyd Mayweather Jr: The Derision

@boxingnews24
Floyd Mayweather Jr: The Derision

By Rasheed Catapang: The FIGHT between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is off again. Blame not Mayweather, as pure a monk as anyone could be, whose vow of silence could not be broken even by an offer of something in the vicinity of 50 MILLION dollars.
For someone whose mouth is known to be as loud and as vicious as his fists, the silence that inhabited Mayweather’s camp during the second negotiation was truly deafening. Nevertheless, it was also telling. When Bob Arum’s impose time-line for Mayweather to accept a fight with Pacquiao expired with nary a word from the mouth that roared (or used to), Mayweather’s silence actually spoke volumes. And the truth was screaming all along.
Screaming like these:
LeBron James made the decision. Floyd, not stepping up to the plate, only invited derision. True, Lebron is now being criticized for his judgment call but at least he made a choice. He’ll be a villain for going for the jugular, everything for his much coveted NBA ring. Floyd, on the other hand, for reasons we could only imagine runs silently to the nearest exit.
Floyd talk the talk but failed to walk the walk. So forget what Floyd said about Pacquiao being easy and how he’ll whooped his ass. In reality, Pacquiao is one insurmountable Grendel. A southpaw with ultra fast hands, the Pacmonster is Floyd’s ultimate kryptonite. Father knows best and Floyd’s dad, in many different ways, had voiced such concern many times over.
Floyd is really all about the zero and he’ll not risk losing it to Pacquiao – not when every possibility points to that. He’ll sacrifice everything in the altar of that perfect record
Roger Mayweather, Floyd’s uncle and coach, will go to trial and might not be available for a fight in November this year. Tough luck. It might be a valid reason to call off the fight but surely Floyd’s father is just as qualified. And valid also is this argument: if by chance Roger is found guilty after the trial, would Floyd never ever fight? Floyd’s statement last Sunday invalidated both.
Floyd’s just not thinking about boxing right now. Not with Pacquiao in it.
David Haye is at present boxing’s biggest ducker. Should Floyd carry on with his charade, Haye might as well share or concede to him that spot. And Haye could always say the Klitschsko’s are bigger than him. Not so in Floyd’s case.
History repeats itself occurring first as tragedy, the second time as farce. And that sums up the story of Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao: The fight that wasn’t, isn’t and, judging from Floyd’s stance, will never be. Anyhow, it doesn’t matter now since we already know who’ll win that fight. The past pervading silence allowed us to figure that.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
An Elegy



Thursday, May 06, 2010
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: The Best vs. The Beast for P4P Supremacy

@boxingnews24
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: The Best vs. The Beast for P4P Supremacy

“Floyd Mayweather Jr. is boxing’s Greatest Ever, the best of the All Time Greats. He’s better than Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. He’s the rightful P4P King and the real Face of Boxing.”
For the longest time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. uttered those heresies. And, repeating those lies many times over, he actually believed them.
Moreover, the body doesn’t always respond to one’s will and old people tend to forget that. “Believe and you’re halfway there” is well and fine but Mosley’s halfway reaches only up to the second round. In essence, he could not give what he no longer has.
It was the oldest rule in the book: Know thyself and know thine enemy. The self is old and the enemy is in his prime. So, Mosley bloody failed when he bloody tried.
That said, the winner deserves all the accolades due him. Shine Mayweather, shine!
For the longest time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. believed the lies he made. On the fateful night of May 1, the truth actually caught up with it.
Well, almost.
There remains another with a similar claim, one whose self belief rivals his. There remains another that needs to be toppled – one, who though haven’t been caught actually saying them, sprouts the same lies. There is another in his mold, an egomaniac bent on ruling the world – a boxing god in a humble façade but just as bad and unforgiving.
There remains Manny Pacquiao.
They are polar opposites but mirror images – the yin and yang, Offense and Defense. One’s a beast and the other the best but equally effective and ruthless.
Fools and Sweet Science Scholars alike need not debate who the greatest boxer is of this generation. Some may claim Floyd deserves the P4P top slot now with the masterful performance over Mosley. But the question begs to be asked, would Mayweather have recovered in the 2nd round had it been Pacquiao (whose torrential rain of fists is swift and final) delivering the blows?
You and I won’t know better. It is not a matter that should be settled in the court of public opinion but in the ring which is boxing’s hallowed ground.
In the matter of Pacquio or Mayweather being the best, your opinion is just as good as mine. That’s why the FIGHT needs to happen.
Afterwards, Mayweather will be proven true. Or else, he’ll really sound hollow.
Floyd Mayweather's Great & Secret Show 2

Floyd Mayweather Jr: Shining Through Mosley
@boxingnews24
http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/04/floyd-mayweather-jr-shining-trough-mosley/
By Rasheed Catapang: On May 1st, will we see the Shane Mosley of old or an old Mosley? The question needs to be asked though the answer won’t really matter. Little Floyd Mayweather Jr., like the countless times he had done before, will walk away with the win.
There may not be anyone now as supremely gifted a boxer as Little Floyd. And there may not be anyone now as confident with those gifts. We could deny his place in boxing’s Valhalla but we could never deny his talents. His detractors could cry foul and scream to deaf heaven all they want but they could not disclaim that his skill set rivals those of the All Time Greats.In his claim to greatness, we could despise him – and his demeanor invites just that. But could we prove him otherwise? I doubt that.
Mosley, however, is qualified to try. He’s long in queue and earned the slot. Bear him no malice then when he inevitably fails and falls at the proverbial road side because at best Mosley is a test. He’s very good but is not great, and is now certainly very old.
Some people saw Mosley as a phoenix rising in the Margarito fight. They failed to consider Margarito’s state of mind in that fight or Mosley’s mediocre performance against Mayorga before that. Mosley could hope for another miracle but would that work against the very devil that is Mayweather.
If there’s anything Mosley could really do, it will be that which Pacquiao could not. That is to make Little Floyd shine.
“Shane done some things in this sport,’’ Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO) said, “but this fight is about enhancing my legacy, about proving I’m the best.’’
And that’s exactly what will come to pass. Floyd Mayweather Jr. for all his faults is a realist. He will never lose because he’ll never be on a fight he could not win. I believe there is the uncertainty in Floyd’s mind if he’ll be the winner against Pacquiao, with Mosley there is not a shred of doubt.
Mosley has yet to come to terms with that. Or else, he’s in denial. Failing to know the enemy eventually will cost him the war. After May 1, he’ll join the 40 before him who bloody tried.
And bloody failed.
“So now I’m telling everyone I know Mayweather is the best of all time. Better than Ali. Better than Frazier. The best that God has ever molded. But if he’s the greatest of all time and we knock him on his back, what’s that make Shane?” Mosley asked.
A dreamer.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Where would Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be after the 2010 election?
Friday, March 19, 2010
Pacquiao's Perfect Performance

Article posted at boxingnews24:
His defense was too good for his own good. There was madness in his method. The method to his madness, however, was lost in that air-tight defense. Impenetrable as it was that almost nothing went in, nothing also went out. Clottey honed his defensive mastery to the extreme, almost possum-like, but thoroughly forgot that boxing also required a lot of punching in order to win.
Joshua Clottey was a caricature of a boxer that night – too bad to be real and too real to be believable.
That, however, just proved a point that The Event was never about the punching bag that was Clottey. It was, after all, about the whirlwind of a man in his opposite corner.
Perhaps that was also the reason Clottey appeared comical – not quite as being held down by the weight of his inneptitude but by the approaching onslaught that appeared to be perpetual. Across him was a man who’s really that good – make it great. At times a blur but almost always an exclamation point of force, Pacquiao was (in Clottey’s mind) one punch away from knocking him down.
Of course Clottey never went down. He was never knocked out. Nobody is expected to knock out a punching bag. Not even Pacquiao. And not even in Dallas.
The Event was a one man show. And we could not blame Pacquiao when it turned out a bore because in boxing, as in dance, it takes two to tango.
In Clottey’s defense – all pun intended – he’s also not entirely at fault. He was simply outclassed. (Big time because it happened in Dallas where, you know, everything’s big.) His failure to perform could be attributed to Pacquiao’s performance. Pacquiao, after all, is such a great fighter known to make even elite fighters look mediocre, if not downright bad. Why should Clottey be the exception?
Clottey was standing when the final bell rung. That must be, in Clottey’s mind, an accomplishment by itself. With Pacquiao’s recent run of havoc, it must indeed be. Congrats to Clottey also but we don’t want more of that.
“He had a good defense, but defense isn’t enough to win a fight,” Roach said of Clottey. He might as well have said it to goad another fighter.
The Event, for all its pomp and glory, was found wanting. It all goes back now to the fight we truly wanted. Everything now depends on Mayweather. If he survives Mosley and answers the call, he could – in spite of himself – really save boxing.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Floyd Mayweather's Great & Secret Show

By Rasheed Catapang: To hear him talk, he’s the best there is at what he does – the greatest boxer ever to lace up gloves. According to him, he’s the King of the Hill and inside the ring, his preferred temple and shrine, a boxing god.
Outside of his family and a few elite sycophants, almost all are heretics if Floyd Mayweather is to be believed. By his standard, even Sugar Ray Robinson – the closest thing the modern world has to a boxing god – is far behind him in Boxing’s Valhalla.
The extent of his madness is fascinating. Though assessing his sublime skills and perfect record of wins, he just might be the real deal.“Line ‘em up and I’ll knock ‘em down,“ so said Mayweather in his second coming. And Marquez, long in qeue and being the first in line, was a willing sacrifice. The wolf fed on the lamb – a prophecy foretold which came to pass.
All hail Mayweather! Though just not yet.
Welcome to Mayweather’s great and secret show. An elite welterweight beating the best lightweight doesn’t secure one seats in Boxing’s Pantheon of the Gods or claim the spot in its highest echelon. Even a 40-0 record is no guarantee, especially when it’s by the path of least resistance.
To secure the coveted top, the same old rule applies: The best has to fight the best that in the end there can only be one!
Which then brings us to May 1.
Floyd Mayweather has to slay his first real demon come first of May. (Granted he had fought champions in Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah and Shamba Mitchell, but just exactly who are them in the grand scheme of things.) In Shane Mosley, a first ballot hall-of-famer, there is the legitimacy Floyd’s talk sorely lacks – a real sugar necessary to sweeten “Money”.
And Mosley, never mind his age, wouldn’t allow that if he could help it. Let’s hope he can.
Floyd has talked the talk; let’s see him walk the walk. As much as I wanted Floyd to be shut up by Mosley or anybody, I equally wanted him to prove just how great he really is. And when he does, if Floyd shines through, let him chase the one that got away.
For atop the hill Floyd wanted to rule over lurks the real monster, the Pound-for-pound King. It is a clash of the titans in the end, and it is only the Pacmonster who can put Mayweather in his proper place.
To hear him talk, he’s the best there is at what he does – the greatest boxer ever to lace up gloves. If Floyd delivers, he might as well be.
He’ll make a believer of us yet.
