Manny Pacquiao looked like the fighter of old in scoring first TKO in 9 years

SCREEN CAPTURE / INSTAGRAM

In the fifth round, Manny Pacquiao lands a punch forcing his opponent to take a knee.

MANNY PACQUIAO did something that no other senator in the Phlippines -- or the U.S. -- has ever done. He knocked out his opponent.

Even though boxing has become secondary to his day job as a senator in the Philippines Senate, the 39-year old Pacquiao showed that he still has what it takes by knocking out Argentinian Lucas Matthysse in the 7th round of their match in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In scoring his 60th fight victory with his first knocckout in nine years, the Filipino icon also captured Matthysse's WBA regular welterweight title. It is Pacquiao's 11th world title in a legendary career that has made him a national hero in his native Philippines.

Talk about Pacquiao's demise proved premature. Unlike his last fight when he lost to Jeff Horn, the Filipino boxer looked focused and physically prepared.

Prior to his 7th round TKO, scorekeepers had Pacquiao winning all the rounds that included two other knockdowns. The 35-year old Matthysse looked sluggish and unable to keep up with Pacquiao's speed. The Argentnian's reputation as a power puncher failed to materialize.

Referee Kenny Bayless called off the fight in the seventh round when Matthysse buckled following another stiff uppercut and spat out his mouthguard as he was being counted.

Despite the loss, Matthysse made it clear he was not considering retirement.

"Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose," Matthysse said. "Today was my turn to lose and I lost to a great fighter and a great legend in Manny Pacquiao."

Pacquiao also refused to entertain retirement. "We are planned to fight again in 2018," he said.

Correction: July 15, 12:20 p.m. Manny Pacquiao's correct age.

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A bad joke and a so-so apology from "Top Gear"

Jeremy Clarkson awaits a penalty for his tendency to use racist language. 

THIS MAY be old news to some of you, but the ruling issued by Britain's Office of Communications (Ofcam) just came out and it ruled that the BBC violated broadcasting rules when it aired a scene in their show "Top Gear" last spring that included a racial slur.

“After a thorough investigation, Ofcom has found the BBC breached broadcasting rules by including an offensive racial term in Top Gear, which was not justified by context,” an Ofcam spokesperson said. “This was scripted in advance. The BBC failed to take the opportunity, either during filming or post-production, to check whether the word had the potential to offend viewers.”

The episode in question, a special about Myanmar which aired in April, included a pretaped segment featuring host Jeremy Clarkson standing at the end of a bridge over the River Kwai as a local man walked across it.

“That is a proud moment,” Clarkson said, “but there’s a slope on it.”

“Slope” is recognized as an anti-Asian slur, especially in Australia (used mostly in reference to people of Vietnamese descent) and the United States (My addition: where it’s most commonly used against all Asian ethnicities).

“When we used the word ‘slope’ in the recent Top Gear Burma special it was a lighthearted word-play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it,” Executive Producer Andy Wilman said in a statement after receiving complaints. “We were not aware at the time, and it has subsequently been brought to our attention, that the word ‘slope’ is considered by some to be offensive and although it might not be widely recognized in the UK, we appreciate that it can be considered offensive to some here and overseas, for example in Australia and the USA.

“If we had known that at the time we would not have broadcast the word in this context and regret any offense caused.”

The excuse sounds kind of lame to me.

This is not a breaking news show where everything is live and people speak out in the moment and you tape whatever you get. It is taped months in advance and scripts are approved months or weeks before the actual taping.

They thought they were being clever but instead they revealed their ignorance and prejudices.

The show, which is known for its "clever" or unusual take on the world, has been in trouble before when it called Mexicans "feckless and flatulent." A month after the Myanmar incident, Clarkson was choosing between two cars and he was using the children's rhyme, "Eenie meenie miiny mo ..." you know how the rest of it goes. The producers at least had the good sense to edit it out of the final product. 

I remember during the Vietnam War when American soldiers returned home and I began hearing that term. They applied it to all Asians, much like the term "gook" used by soldiers in the Philippines-American War when referring to Filipinos became synonymous with all Asians.

I hated the term "slopes" then and I hate it now, no matter the context. Ofcam is supposed to come back with some sort of penalty. Let's hope the penalty is  substantial enough to jog some sense into Clarkson, who reportedly makes millions for his hosting duties.

Imelda Marcos' story is made for theater

When the Marcoses were in power in the Philippines, they banned the musical "Evita" because the parallels to the dual dictatorship was too obvious. It was perhaps inevitable that Imelda's rags-to-riches story - with her penchant for memorable quotes, infamous shoe collection, a reputed affair with actor George Hamilton and a love for the glamor and spotlight - end up on the Broadway stage.

"Here Lies Love" returned to Broadway July 9 for an open-ended run after garnering rave reviews last year.

Even with the uncertain future of George Takei's "Allegiance" and the too-short-of-a-run of the Bruce Lee musical, which starred Filipino-American martial artist/dancer Cole Horibe, Asian dancers and singers will have more than their normally limited number of opportunities to portray Asians in revivals of Miss Saigon and The King and I. Slowly, in little baby steps, producers are starting to cast Asians in roles that don't specifically call for an Asian actor.

Plans are afoot to put up productions of the Marcos musical in London and San Francisco. I can't wait when it comes to San Francisco, which was the center of anti-Marcos activities in the U.S. during the 21 year reign of the dictator.

Deep in the middle of the anti-Marcos movement in the U.S. was the Philippine News, where I honed my journalistic chops as a layout artist, proofreader, columnist, reporter and editor. Led by fiery editor and publisher Alex Esclamado, some of the stories that we printed about the despots'  regime seemed so fantastical that mainstream media couldn't believe it and as a result, the PhilNews suffered a credibility problem it could never overcome.

However, when the dictatorship fell, and the horrors of that rule were fully exposed, and western reporters began reporting on the Philippines dictatorship, especially by Phil Bronstein with the San Francisco Examiner -- only then did the U.S. media realize that things were even worst than what was reported by PhilNews. Reporting by US media, usually using Esclamdo's contacts and sources, eventually put pressure on the Marcoses.

Many of the people who walked in picket lines, wrote letters, made films, wrote scathing commentaries and risked their businesses, reputations and lives working against the dictator still live in the Bay Area. It will be interesting to see if they join the audience to sing along or dance with Imelda and Ferdinand in the highly  interactive production where the audience become part of the story. At various times during the show they are fellow nightclub dancers, Filipino voters and finally they become the masses that became the "People Power" that dethroned the dual dictators.

The production wanted to move into a mainstream theater but the physical requirements of the show, ie. no seats in the orchestra section, precluded any of the traditional venues. And that's a problem the show will have when it moves to London in October. Unfortunately, there are not many venues in SF that can accommodate the production. (How about the vacant Palace of Fine Arts? Imelda would love the irony of finally winding up in a palace again.)

The musical is NOT an ode to the dictatorship. It is NOT a history lesson. It is a musical that offers an unapologetic look back at an era in the Philippines that is still having repercussions on the political  scene. 

We may not have brought down the final curtain on the Marcos story. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos' son, Bong Bong, has been elected President of the Philippines in 2022 after extensive rewriting of history and the collective memory loss of voters, many who were born after the reign of the conjugal dictatorship.

Editor's Note: Having not seen the musical, I can't give a review, but here is a sampling of reviews from the early production.

Here's a review from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/06/18/here-lies-good-stuff/

And a review from the Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/theater/review-here-lies-love-is-a-swirling-dynamic-first-ladys-biography-to-a-disco-beat/

Filipinos, Cesar Chavez and Hollywood

JUST FOR THE RECORD, With the recent release of a motion picture "Cesar Chavez" it should be noted that Filipino farmworkers began the grape boycott in 1965 forcing Chavez and the Mexican farmworkers to join in the strike.

The two unions became the United Farm Workers. Although led by Chavez, Andy Imutan and Larry Itliong were vice presidents and played major roles in cementing the UFW's role in labor history.

Unfortunately, in the movie, Filipinos were depicted only in minor roles, extras, spear carriers: a backdrop. You would think that in one of the few historical events in America where Filipinos played a major role, they would get more credit than what was shown on the screen.