Pacquiao’s time is gone

Batas Mauricio

THE stunning defeat of Sen. Manny Pacquiao in the hands of Australian boxer Jeff Horn in their boxing bout dubbed as “Battle in Brisbane” on Sunday only showed the continuing decline not only of Pacquiao’s prowess and invincibility as a fighter in the ring but, more so, of the interest of many people on his career.

The empty and vacant spectators’ seats in the arena where the match was held was a telltale sign that Pacquiao no longer command the attention of boxing fans and other sports enthusiasts as well. Since he lost again to Horn in his latest foray into the ring, we can expect lesser people to watch his next fight, if ever there is still going to be one.

I hate to use the word “has-been” or, in Pilipino, “laos na”, in describing Pacquiao at this point. But that is what he has been projecting lately–he no longer has the killer instinct that enabled him to gain eight world championships at the same time, he no longer has the power punch that many boxers dreaded, he no longer has the agility of his youth. In any language, that means Pacquiao’s time as a boxer is already gone!

For whatever it is worth, I am compelled to remind Pacquiao of a beautiful chapter in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible which talks about a time and season for everything, and which I am sure Pacquiao the Christian preacher is fully aware of. I hope he takes time out to read this, for the very valuable lessons it gives to all of us. It goes this way:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them…

“… a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace…” This part of the Bible did not say so, but indeed, there is a time to win, and a time to lose.

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I find it both funny and irritating that the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of the Philippines deemed it necessary to issue a media advisory against an eye drop product, saying that the eye drop product should not be bought or patronized because it is not registered with it yet.

This media advisory to me is funny because there are many products registered with the FDA that are not truly beneficial to their buyers anyway, and do not measure up to the claims that are printed on their labels or that are advertised by their makers in media. So why discriminate against the eye drop product, if it can really heal eye sores or ailments?

Then, the media advisory is also irritating because there are many products being sold almost everywhere in the Philippines either as food, food supplement, or as medicine, that pose more danger to the health and well-being of Filipinos, like processed foods, or cancer-causing alcoholic beverages or diabetes-inducing drinks, which the FDA do not mind at all. Why the especial rant against the eye drop product?

I am raising this concern because a lady doctor who treats her famous patients at various hospitals told me that there are now increasing incidents of kidney problems among Filipinos across the country that is seen by medical practitioners as having been caused by unbridled intake of food supplements.

The lady doctor said food supplements, especially those taken as capsules or tablets or as powdered products, are causing a strain on kidneys of those who consume them because there are appears to be ingredients of those food supplements that are not digested properly.

She told me that this is the reason why more and more Filipinos are undergoing dialysis treatments, on account of their damaged kidneys. The lady doctor did not say it, of course, but the implication of all these is that some government agencies may have been remiss in their duty to safeguard the health of our countrymen with respect to food products or supplements.

Come to think of it, can the DFA really discharge the duties and responsibilities that have been entrusted to it by Republic Act 9711, otherwise known as the “Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009”?

I doubt it very much and I am just talking here about two of its bounden duties–that of testing food and health products, and restraining the distribution of products that have not undergone testing. Simply by the magnitude of the tasks assigned to it, I am convinced that the FDA is an inutile agency, incapable of performing its obligations.

The fact is that the FDA does not appear to have the capability to go around the country to conduct food and drugs or health products tests. I am certain that FDA does not even have provincial offices at present to monitor, much less to stop the distribution of dangerous, food and drug products in each and every province of the country. This is such a pity–not for FDA, but for Filipinos!

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com