Who is the Philippines’ most important?

What are we looking at when we measure a person? We know Kareem has the most points, Gates has the most money, Shakira has the most likes, and Obama got the most votes. But does this make them the best athlete, businessman, personality, or president? It could, maybe for some, but not without further discussion. There are always those who will argue that Jordan averaged more points than Kareem or Bill Gates wasn’t even a billionaire until he reached the age of 31.

Results in finding the greatest or best of anything will always have an asterisk next to it, but this does not stop people from trying.

Rankings and awards are conjured up to reward and advertise human excellence. They each adopt a unique set of mechanics to find out who is number one. It is the editors of Time magazine who choose the men and women that will make each year’s TIME 100, the list of the most influential people worldwide. The NBA asks the services of 120-some sportswriters and broadcasters to cast in their vote to determine who was the Most Valuable Player in the league in a given year. The award is given on the basis of team success and individual stats, but some voters have their own interpretations.

When looking for greatness, it will always be the majority of subjective opinion. So operating on the same logic used in popular rankings and awards, who emerges as the Philippines’ most important person?

Better than the police

You can look past Michael Buffer’s lengthy introduction of Manny Pacquiao before each fight and you will still have a long list of accolades and accomplishments that go well beyond the realm of sports. Make no mistake that even in the conversation of social and cultural relevance; it is still an athlete that tops the list.

You will be hard pressed to find another man for whom the country stops when he goes to work. What is easily dismissed as a mere fun fact is actually a phenomenon that is very telling of one man’s claim to a nation. It was during one of Manny Pacquiao’s bouts in 2007 when reports were made that there was an astounding drop in the crime rate in the Philippines, which nearly reached zero. The close-to-zero crime rate has been reported consistently through his thirteen fights since then, showing no signs of stopping.

Moneyball nation

During the 2013 MVP race in the NBA, one sportswriter, Gary Washburn, used his vote on Carmelo Anthony, while literally everyone else voted for LeBron James. He released an article that same year to explain his thinking in doing so.

In the article he says that he based his choice on the player’s importance to the team. Without Anthony, his team, the New York Knicks, would fail to be relevant while without James, his team, the Miami Heat, would still be able to find basketball success. Using this thinking continues to help Pacquiao’s case for being the country’s most important.

Some may argue that it should be Henry Sy, Miriam Defensor, or maybe even one of the Aquinos. But the reason for why they don’t have the same claim to the country as Pacquiao is because of the difficulty of his duplication.

Acting on removal logic, if the businessman and political figures mentioned above did not exist, another could possibly step in their place. This would be another man or woman becoming president or another businessman getting the opportunity. Although these are speculations, the same cannot be said with the same amount of confidence about Manny Pacquiao. What he has achieved and become to this date is so unique that if he did not exist, the Philippines would need a new identifier.

Although rather elaborate, the claim is that the Philippines does not have another Pacquiao.

We don’t count Goliath

It is common sense in storytelling that villains have to be stronger than the heroes or else you would have a very short story or none at all. One could say that this is similar to real life as there are people who do what is commonly perceived as bad things and have much more power than good people like Pacquiao. An example would be Janet Napoles whose choices and exploits have affected more people in higher degrees.

The managing editor of Time, Nancy Gibbs, had this to say about the difference between power and influence in determining this past year’s TIME 100, “Power, as we’ve seen this year, can be crude and implacable, from Vladimir Putin’s mugging of Crimea to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s summary execution of his uncle and mentor Jang Song Thaek. Those men made our list, but they are the outliers, and not just because we generally seek to celebrate the best work of the human spirit. The vast majority of this year’s roster reveals that while power is certain, influence is subtle. Power is a tool, influence is a skill; one is a fist, the other a fingertip. You don’t lead by hitting people over the head, Dwight Eisenhower used to say. That’s assault, not leadership.”

If we adopt the logic used by Gibbs, we would not even take in consideration Napoles or any other people that came from similar paths in the discussion.

Power rankings

We cannot trace Pacquiao’s greatness to a single accomplishment in sports, politics, or entertainment but to his connection to the people of this country. Unlike other athletes, he plays for no team. Unlike other businessmen, his job is not to sell us products. The only true connection we have with Pacquiao is that we share a flag. We do not watch his fights because we are fans of boxing but because we are fans of our nation. Pacquiao proved to us he was more than your average Filipino when he showed the world he was no underdog, a concept the Philippines is all too familiar with and accustomed to.

The assignment of Manny Pacquiao as the Philippines’ most important is just like the other rankings and rewards that despite the attempts at a calculated result; it cannot detach itself from being subjective.

So while others may not agree with this, one must still wonder how a high school dropout who throws punches for a living was able to make it this far up the list.