CEBU CITY—Mother’s Day celebrations and fiesta meals in the Visayas were delayed as fans watched and cheered for Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
Traffic dropped in the cities of Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo as most residents were glued to their television and radio sets and kept tabs of the match. As in previous matches, police reported no crime incidents.
In Cebu, Pacquiao’s victory added to the festivities at Mandaue City, which celebrated its annual fiesta on Sunday.
Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Mandaue City police chief, said lunch was delayed by the match. It also kept residents in their houses or in areas with pay-per-view screenings.
Traffic volume dropped by at least 70 percent in Cebu City during the match, said Sylvan Jakosalem, chair of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management. The Cebu City Mobile Patrol Group said they did not receive any alarm from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. because people were mostly focused on the fight.
Monsignor Esteban Binghay, episcopal vicar of the Cebu Archdiocese, said he finished his 10 a.m. Mass early because most of the people wanted to catch the pay per view.
But the excitement might have been too much for a 67-year-old former militiaman who died while watching the fight between Filipino boxing icon Pacquiao and
American Shane Mosley.
Sonny Estremos of Barangay Quiot in Cebu City suffered a heart attack during the tenth round when an angry Pacquiao delivered successive blows on Mosley after the American scored a knockdown after pushing Pacquiao on the floor.
He was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center but was declared dead on arrival.
If Estremos, a former member of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit, was not feeling well on Sunday morning, he didn’t show it.
Relatives said Estremos jogged early in the morning and had grilled pork chops for breakfast. He then went to his neighbor’s house to watch the fight, which was shown live from MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
His friends said that Estremos was quiet all throughout the fight until the 10th round when they noticed that he was no longer moving.
In Bacolod City, Mother’s Day lunches were put on hold or held later than usual as Negrenses gathered around their television sets and at public venues to cheer for Pacquiao.
Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, Bacolod City police director, said there were no crimes reported during the fight and streets cleared of vehicles as people stayed indoors to watch the bout.
Less people also attended masses close to noon in Bacolod on Sunday.
Despite bad weather, thousands watched and cheered for Pacquiao at the RTR plaza in Tacloban City where a wide screen was put up by the provincial government.
“Of course, I was happy that Manny once again brought honor to the country by defeating Mosley,” Carlo Cabaging, 28, said after Pacquiao was officially declared as the winner of the 12-round boxing fight.
At the 4,500-seater Tacloban City Astrodome, fans repeatedly shouted Pacquiao’s name during the match.
“But I was a little bit disappointed. I thought he would knock Mosley down,” a fan, who just gave his first name as Jose, said.
Fans in the northern villages of Tacloban watched the match on wide screens provided by the An Waray party-list group. The fight was also shown at various coffee shops in the city and its lone shopping mall.
In Iloilo City, hundreds of fans also packed hotels, bars and restaurants with live screenings of the match with tickets worth from P400 to P500. Thousands more jammed free live screenings in public plazas.
“Although I already expected Pacquiao to win, it was still exciting,” said Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta of Pavia town in Iloilo, who was among the hundreds of fans who watched the match at Hotel del Rio.
As in past Pacquiao matches, streets of Iloilo City were free of traffic as most commuters and drivers of public transport stayed off the streets to watch the match on television or listen to the radio give a blow-by-blow account.
In Maasin City, fans were dismayed over the way Mosley fought in the match. They also jeered when referee Richard Bayless ruled a knockdown against Pacquiao when it was later shown that Mosley had pushed Pacquiao down.
Residents started trooping to the city gym at 8 a.m. to get a vantage view from the wide screen provided for free by the city government. With reports from Jhunnex Napallacan, Carla P. Gomez, Joey A. Gabieta, Edison delos Angeles, Jani Arnaiz and Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas