Philippine basketball sports has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter, and Fire Quinito rounds up the best messages from athletes, broadcasters, and fans, in 140 characters or less.




Here’s hoping that when we vote for Chris Tiu as our president in 25 years – you know, after he serves as Manny Pacquiao’s vice president for 6 years – he’ll still have a full head of hair.




I miss Ed Picson doing the coverage. Always loved him, especially kapag binabara niya si Quinito.




Nice. I wonder though if there’s a workout to make Dyan a better boxing announcer.




Yeah, go for it Boyet! Just remember: Flirting on Twitter is ok, but writing love letters leads to disbarment.




Cool. And it’s high praise too, because Howie and I have spoken before about David Halberstam’s classic “The Breaks of the Game.” Also, if you missed it, he left a comment on the post about his James Yap documentary, and called The Genius “cutie coach Ryan.”




And the fans concur. Ayos si Coach ah, parang (500) Days of Summer lang eh noh.




An underrated, amusing part of Howie’s documentary: FEU center Aldrech Ramos chilling out wearing a jejecap.




Had a nice, quick chat with Mico after last night’s game. He’s one of my favorite sportscasters. Plus, he gives hope to all of us short guys who want to be involved in basketball. Also, he’s married to Pia Arcangel, so that gives us even more hope. I should probably stop writing now before I get into trouble.

Anyway, I had a good time at the game even though Derby Ace lost. Speaking of which...




Yeah, this was after Marc Pingris had a monster, two-handed putback slam dunk to cut the San Miguel lead to 4. The Beermen called timeout, and the arena DJ played Baby. Pati pagkatalo ng Purefoods, kasalanan pa rin ni Bieber. While we’re on the subject of music…




If there ever was a Sweetest Tweets hall of fame, Robbie Reyes would be a first-ballot inductee.

Just a quick advisory: Updates will be light this week because I’m in Thailand right now because of the day job. Other people would take an opportunity like this to enjoy and explore a new country and culture – and I probably will – but it’s killing me that, being in another country, I can’t watch the PBA, the Jones Cup, and the college leagues this week. I’m the type of schmuck who goes to Boracay and stays in his hotel room to watch Purefoods games. Some people would say I need help. Look at me, blogging from my hotel room.

(Also, the FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women event happens on Thursday, and I’m missing that too.)

Anyway, I ran into Rep. Erin Tañada this afternoon at the airport. My bosses knew him well, because he was one of the authors of the Freedom of Information Act that we had lobbied for in the 14th Congress, so we ended up talking for a bit while waiting for our delayed flights.

I kidded him about his new colleague and partymate, pound-for-pound champion and Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao. He clarified that while the boxer already expressed interest in joining the Liberal Party, where Tañada is an official, Pacquiao has not yet taken his oath yet.

I also asked him about Pacquiao’s performance in class – Tañada was a lecturer for Pacquiao’s special legislative crash course – and he said that Manny actually listened and took notes during the whole thing. He was even pleasantly surprised when Pacquiao showed a good grasp of key issues, including the need to strengthen his province’s agricultural sector. While Tañada was discussing how agricultural policies by the national government were affecting the plight of farmers in Sarangani, Pacquiao chimed in, “Ah kilala ko yan, si Arthur Yap yan!” Under the watch of Yap, who was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Agriculture Secretary, the Philippines continued to be the biggest rice importer in the world. “Early procurement and early buying” of rice imports was a policy that Yap implemented to address the country’s rice shortage.

On Monday last week, Sarangani representative-elect and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao began a ten-day crash course on governance at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Pasig City, amid fawning media coverage. The course, which was custom-developed for the pound-for-pound king, aims to give Pacquiao intensive training on the duties of a good legislator.

Pacquiao the student earned praise on his first day of class. “He came in very early. He really asks very good questions and he seems to have a very good handle on the problems of the province and the issues that he needs to carry to Congress,” DAP dean Gloria Jumamin-Mercado told GMA News. The Philippine Daily Inquirer also lauded him in its June 18 editorial, specifically his decision to go back to school: “Because the public perception is that politicians value money and popularity (which, of course, Pacquiao enjoys to a remarkable degree) as the main qualifications for public office. The notion that a politician will study for the office he has already won is not necessarily new, but it is refreshing.”

By Wednesday night, however, Pacquiao’s focus was already seemingly divided, after the boxer flew home to General Santos City to suit up for a basketball game for the MP GenSan Pacman Warriors, the minor league professional team he owns. He started at shooting guard for the Warriors in their game against the Treston Laguna Stallions, jacking up 12 shots in 14 minutes.

The very next night, he was back on the court against Cobra Energy Drink, putting up 7 shots in 8 minutes, a rate that would make even Kobe Bryant cringe. It was unclear if he decided to jet back and forth between his classes in Manila and the GenSan games, or if he just decided to cut class to play basketball – which is, to be fair to Pacquiao, something that every other male Filipino student does anyway.

But if you’re worried that Pacquiao isn’t getting all the necessary training in governance that he needs, fret not. Last night, after his classes, he jetted off to Ilocos Sur to attend the birthday party of his friend, the province’s governor-elect Chavit Singson, from whom Pacquiao says he hopes to learn lessons in how to govern well. “You should have discipline," Chavit told the champ. “You should study and learn from your enemies.”

Also at the same party, and presumably hobnobbing with Pacquiao, were President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who will be the boxer’s House of Representatives colleague in the 15th Congress, and television host Willie Revillame, with whom Pacquiao appeared in a series of political advertisements for losing presidential candidate Manny Villar.

So yeah, Congressman Pacquiao looks like he’s in good hands, doesn’t he?

It’s almost been a month since pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao won in a landslide for Sarangani Province’s seat in the House of Representatives; the boxing champion won 2/3rds of the votes against Roy Chiongbian, a member of an influential local political clan, and conventional wisdom suggests that the Pac-man rode on the crest of his in-ring popularity to victory.

To be sure, the Pac-man’s megastar status played a big role in his win. But looking closer at the numbers defies the lazy idea that Pacquiao’s victory is a triumph of popularity over local machinery.

As Pacquiao himself pointed out before the polls, he prepared for these elections way before the start of the campaign, even putting up his own regional political party; he actually funded and built up his own local campaign machine.

However, looking just at Pacquiao’s numbers, there is no way to measure how much of Pacquiao’s votes could be attributed to his own popularity, and how much of it could be attributed to the machinery.

But we can get a better idea of the potency of his party’s machinery by looking at the other races in the province, and here, the numbers paint an interesting picture. Re-electionist governor Miguel Dominguez, himself a member of a political clan and an ally of the Chiongbians, eked out a razor-thin victory over Pacquiao’s candidate, Juan A. Domino – the two were separated by less than 5,000 votes, 89,668 to 85,196.

Of course, other factors may have been in play. Dominguez is a stalwart of the administration Lakas-Kampi CMD, which was famously in disarray, and his decision to resign as party president along with other party executives (among them, standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro) may have affected his campaign. There have also been rumors that the administration party provided minimal support for gubernatorial candidates, instead channeling funds to campaigns of congressional candidates, who would supposedly support Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s run for House Speaker during the next Congress.

Then again, Domino isn’t a newbie in the province’s political scene; in 1998, he beat another Chiongbian scion, Lucille Chiongbian-Solon, for a congressional seat, but later had to vacate his post after being ruled ineligible because of residency issues. Still, his close loss against a popular, incumbent governor indicates just how well-oiled the Pacquiao political machine is.

Pacquiao’s win in the May 2010 elections demonstrated not just his popularity, but also foxy political acumen. It remains to be seen, however, if the diligence shown by Pacquiao and his handlers in building up his campaign would translate to actual, tangible progress for the people of Sarangani, or if this was merely another step in Pacquiao’s devolution into just another noveau riche trapo.