UPBSF, Inc. Pacquiao-Mosley Project

by Ruperto Ambil II

 “PACQUIAO WHIPS MOSLEY”, “LOPSIDED PACQUIAO WIN”. These are the headlines of almost all of the news platforms here and abroad. The Pacquiao fight is difficult to describe for it is not merely a sports event or a success story of a poor man making it big. It is beyond that. It is the magic that brings together a troubled nation and its people. For the second time, the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity shared this magic with the UP community by providing a live pay per view of the event at the UP Theater.

The Pacquiao – Mosley pay per view at the UP Diliman Theater is the first project of the new set of Board of Trustees of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.. It is the second time that the Frat produced a Pacquiao fight in UP, the first one having been led by the Diliman residents. It was more profitable this time around given the size of the venue, but the success of the project does not weigh heavily on how much money we have in the bank, but on the experiences shared by all of the brothers, members of the Ladies Corps, Sigma Betans and loyal friends who worked hard for this event and saw it through until the curtains closed. Many thanks to the fraternity’s president Rene De Rueda for his strong leadership and his contribution in helping find sponsors for the event. Despite his busy schedule, he found time for the fraternity’s project thereby inspiring all of the Board of Trustees to work as hard.

Among the highlights of the project is the hard work put in by the residents and the united effort given by the Grand Princeps of Diliman, Baguio, and Davao that included a visit to the DENR to sell tickets to our distinguished brother Sec. Mon Paje. It was a good strategy, for who can refuse 3 GPs? The event was special because cross-enrollee brods from UP Davao and UP Baguio also contributed to the project’s success. It is quite enviable because when we were residents we have never had the opportunity to work with other resident chapters. Working for a frat project reinforces the bond of brotherhood, it is one of the rewards that we reaped from this exercise. It was like a homecoming. Betans from different generations were there with their families to watch the fight. We rarely bring our wives and children to fraternity events because of the abundance of alcohol and the not so wholesome nature of our discussions, but last Sunday was a one of the very few events that families of the brods could enjoy a fraternity gathering.

The project exposed our “wholesome” side to the faculty, staff, and students of the university who patronized our event. We are hoping activities such as this one could help promote the fraternity in a positive way, that instead of being known for something negative, we can now be talked about as one of the fraternities that produce significant projects in UP. Former UP President Dodong Nemenzo was there talking and smoking with the brods and even requested from the admin for added security in the venue, not knowing that when we have an event, the police and security agencies of UP are welcome to watch the fight with us for free, a small gesture extended to them in the hopes that maybe someday, when our residents are in trouble, it might be returned to us. ABS-CBN News, sent a reporter and a remote broadcast van to provide live updates for channel 2 and ANC. A CNN producer was also present to write a feature about the event. When CNN posed me the question as to why people prefer to watch the fight in a venue such as the theater, my reply had been simple – “it’s about sharing the experience with someone else, it’s the cheering, clapping, booing, it’s the magic that brings people together because of Pacquiao.“ The question is similar to what most people ask us; on why we are fratmen, or why we are Betans, it’s the experience of sharing something with your brothers.

Looking forward to sharing the experience again with you this coming November for the Pacquiao-Marquez fight.

RUPERTO L. AMBIL II
UPD GP 1997-1998, 2000-2001                    

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