I had a dream that the following was Noynoy Aquino’s inaugural speech on June 30 at the Luneta: To my dearest countrymen, good afternoon: I thank you all for this humbling moment of making me the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines. You have spoken on May 10, 2010. I can only bow to your will. I bow because as your chosen leader, I am now your servant. At your service 24/7. As your servant, you can only be my master. In order that I can perform my job well to the best of my ability, I have listed three rules to guide me:

EVEN as our age difference was nearly 30 years, he took me for what I was—a mere kid who loved to cover chess. “I don’t go for the usual,” he said. “Boring. I love the non-nor­mal.”
We hit it off right away. It was the Seventies. I was writ­ing for the Bulletin.
He was Chief but more of a soldier, Boss but more of an employee, Teacher but more of a student, Master but more of a slave.

THE sinner wasn’t the winner. The newsmaker was. I mean, Tiger Woods did not win the 74th Masters. Phil Mick­elson did. But in placing fourth, Woods still grabbed much of the atten­tion – if not the whole of it. From Day One of the Masters in Augusta National (I was there, fortunately, in 1991 when Ian Woosnam won it), all eyes were on Woods. Not so much because they were interested in him but in the way he’d conduct himself. Well, this time, there was a big change. Big, big change. He kept smiling where­as before, his smile to the crowd was as rare as a lu­nar eclipse. He kept tipping his cap whereas before, he rarely acknowledged the audience’s applause. He even paused to greet a kid wearing a cap with his initials TW emblazoned on it.

I thought Joshua Clottey would come to fight. He didn’t. Sorry about that. I surmise even Kuya Mario Panoringan was displeased with the way Clotteyy had treated the fight. As a result, the knockout I had predicted for Manny Pacquiao didn’t materialize. Pacquiao’s 39th knockout, which would have been his fifth straight since 2008 (David Diaz 9th, Oscar De La Hoya 8th, Ricky Hatton 2nd and Miguel Cotto 12th), became a 12-round unani­mous decision victory over the blocking and not fighting Ghana­ian. Clottey came to protect his 38-fight streak of not having been knocked out since he turned pro in 1995 at 18.