No evidence, no case

By Alex P. Vidal

“Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.”—George Eliot

I TRULY care for my country, but I have nothing concrete to say yet as regards the controversial outcome of the May 9 presidential election unless there are pieces of evidence that will surface.

If none, everything will remain as speculation. Even in a court litigation, the most important element of surprise is the testimonial and/or documentary evidence. With any evidence, the case will falter.

Like many political observers, unsatisfied voters and curious analysts, I also have misgivings with certain figures that came out in the Comelec Transparency Server.

It’s so unbelievable that Vice President Leni Robredo got only 14 million votes (almost the same number of votes she got in 2016 against the same rival in the vice presidential contest) and the presumptive winner, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., got a whopping 31 million votes.

The wide margin is so incredible and mysterious, to say the least. It has never happened in the history of Philippine elections even when the counting of votes was still done manually.

The automated canvassing of ballots is really something that needs a total review and thorough investigation.

But I can’t conclude yet with absolute certainty that a fraud of horrific magnitude attended the recent presidential election in the absence of any solid evidence.

As Archimedes had famously said, “Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I’ll move the world.”

Give me pieces of evidence and I will make a loud voice.

-o0o-

THERE are predictions that after his failed presidential bid, Senator Manny Pacquiao might next attempt to erase the world record established by Bernard Hopkins: to become the oldest world boxing champion.

Pacquiao, 42, was the only presidential candidate in the recent Philippine election who supposedly spent his own money during the entire campaign period and did not solicit any financial help from private donors.

If he wants to quickly recover the millions of pesos he spent during the electoral process, where he garnered 3,629,666 votes and was running for third in the Comelec Transparency Server as of this writing, he will need to step on the ring once more.

Now retired from boxing and is not anymore active in election campaign, he might decide to stage a comeback if he is still physically fit, according to many observers.

Even if he is now past his prime, Pacquiao continued to be a household name in the world of prizefighting, having been considered during his active years as the best boxer pound-for-pound.

He could still bankroll a huge prize if he will fight for a cause, or to seek to establish a certain record.

-o0o-

In his last fight before hanging up his gloves on August 21, 2021, he lost by a 12-round unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas.

The oldest boxer to win a world title is Bernard Hopkins, who at age 46 on May 21, 2011, took the World Boxing Council’s light-heavyweight title from Canada’s Jean Pascal in a 12-round unanimous decision at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

He actually erased the record established on November 5, 1994 by George Foreman, who became boxing’s oldest heavyweight champion at 45 when he defeated 26-year-old Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas. More than 12,000 spectators at the MGM Grand Hotel watched Foreman dethrone Moorer, who went into the fight with a 35-0 record.

Foreman had dedicated his upset win to “all my buddies in the nursing home and all the guys in jail.”

Pacquiao’s only obstacle is that he has to wait until he turns 46 and several days and win the fight that would make him the new titleholder of the oldest world boxing champion.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)