Entry tags:

manny pacquiao, philippine daily inquirer

PDI: PACQUIAO DROPS IN
Incredible day to be at the office today. Awesome timing. Simply awesome.

Manny Pacquiao himself was at the Inquirer building to receive his award of recognition for being the paper’s Filipino of the Year for 2008. I tried to squeeze in for a photo, sheepishly I admit, but in between the near-hundreds of people wanting a photo-op with him, I managed to sneak this sad but manageable co-opt photo on my crappy low-res camera phone.

Seriously, after the awarding and formalities people just surged in like a mob with their DSLRs, camera phones, and every other recording device imaginable. People were getting their shirts signed, my goodness. The man must have some kind of special training for endurance towards the type of fan demand fervently descending upon him in waves of raucous devotion.

I was really thankful to score this though:



I can’t tell you how crazy it was to line up at a slow-ass printer as it was cranking out dozens of these colored sixty-percent prints. People were grabbing these wherever they could get them to cue up for a signature. Heck, even Ma'am Lynette, the Art head, brought out a 2006 issue with Manny on it so she could have it signed.

Man was I so shy to approach for it - because he was already eating and chatting with the Inquirer big shots by the time I got the print out! But he still signed it, auto-click pentel pen at the ready. The guy's so simple, friendly and warm in person. At one comical point in the fan-photo-frenzy he helped out a guy figure out how to make his camera work.

But I'm proud to say I am the owner of one edition of Mandom (dear God I can't believe I actually strung that into a word) that I think no one else in the world could claim to have. Remember this?



After getting my first signature did I only realize that I had my external drive with me – and it contained the Pacquiao graphic art. So I had it printed...

And fan art comes full circle.



I almost sashayed off the third floor balcony thinking the euphoria would keep me afloat! When I first handed the print-out PDI president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez's sister thought I was handing it to him as a gift, with a dedication. After getting that signature, I realized with giddy urgency, why not?

So I quickly printed a second copy - waiting at the printer like a guy anxiously cueing at the washroom for a desperate leak - hastily scribbled out a dedication, Maraming salamat po, Mabuhay po kayo! Kamao ng Bansa!, and handed it to him.

He beamed at my gift art, and he shook my hand.

I exchanged signatures with Manny Pacquiao. With my signature on a copy of my art, now in Manny Pacquiao’s hands.

Glorious.