THERE'S a new sporting hero in town, at least in the eyes of president Bongbong Marcos.
As he tackled sports in this year’s State of the Nation Address, Marcos ran down some of the biggest names in Philippine sports from professional champions, to Olympians and our Paralympians.
There was one notable name in his speech that had the crowd laughing.
READ: Torre wins by default as Baste no-shows jerry-rigged boxing match
“Naririyan ang Philippine Sports Commission at PAGCOR upang tiyakin ang patuloy na pag-taguyod at pag-suporta sa ating programang pangpalakasan ng mga atleta sa buong bansa,” Marcos said.
“Sumusunod sila sa yapak ng ating mga kampeon at world-class na mga athlete, tulad ni Senator Manny Pacquiao, ni Hidilyn Diaz, ni Caloy Yulo, Aira Villegas, Nesthy Petecio, EJ Obiena, Alex Eala, ang Paralympians natin sila Jerrold Mangliwan, Cendy Asusano, Angel Mae Otom at Ernie Gawilan,” he continued before dropping the punchline.
“Sama narin natin ang bago nating kampeon si PNP Chief Nic Torre,” as the hall erupted in laughter.
Obviously, this was a not-so-subtle jab at Davao City acting mayor Baste Duterte, who initially challenged Torre to a fistfight, before Torre upped the ante and turned it into a full-blown boxing match for charity which took place on Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Despite Duterte flying to Singapore days before that exhibition took place, Torre still pushed through with the event, and he was eventually awarded the victory by default with his opponent a show.
Still, the buzz from the event had drawn out some positives, with reports stating the charity boxing show generated over 15 million pesos for the victims of the recent typhoon and floods.
If that’s the case, then General Torre deserves that belt after all.
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