Looking back, a lot of the criticisms Nonito gets are byproducts of some things he has done and said in the past. The thing with Nonito, and sometimes I get caught off guard by it too, is that he is a straight-shooter. He's an outspoken person and will give you his honest answers to whatever you ask him to a point that you can say he has no filter. A lot of fans gave him flack for some things he said in the past that came across as arrogant like his comments about Brian Villoria and some quotes about his fallout with his dad and former trainer. While commentating for Pacquiao's rematch against Marquez on Philippine television last year, he initially scored the fight in favor of Marquez which drew the ire of more than a few Pacquiao fans.
These things are against the grain of what traditional Filipino upbringing suggests. I myself was born and raised in the Philippines, and I know how it is to have conservative parents and I love them for keeping me on the straight and narrow and instilling Filipino values in me. But before you write him off and label him a bag guy or buy into stories written about him by some of our traditional media scribes, allow me to try and put things in perspective.
Not every Filipino understands how it is to move to America. It's difficult especially if you move here at the formative stages of your life like Nonito did when he was 9. All a lot of people see and think about most people that are now living in the states are the dollars and the lavish parties and gifts a "balikbayan" or someone who just came from the US throws around whenever they visit home- sometimes to a point that they take things for granted. Filipinos here sacrifice the lifestyle they were used to and bust their butts off working double-shifts and overtimes just to make that money. Just ask any Filipino nurse that moved here for that better pay. "The American Dream" comes with a high price, although the rewards are indeed satisfying once you've paid your dues. You have to adjust to the people around you, the culture, the language barrier, racism, the weather and being looked down upon as an immigrant from a third-world country. Of course every person has their unique experience but for the most part, these are things people who move here have to go through.
In able for a Filipino to survive in the US, one has to learn how to adapt and deal with the American way. Don't fault someone you know that has changed because they moved somewhere else. People naturally tend to adapt to their environment. It's embedded in your DNA- the ability to cope and adjust to your environment that is. You have to play within your grounds for you to succeed. What's the point of crying over spilled milk? Looking too much to the past and not being able to adjust is the easiest way to failure in here, and there are indeed a lot of differences. Here you will have to learn to speak up for yourself or people will step all over you. You can't play “Mr. Nice Guy” and complain when people start abusing you. People here fight for their rights and stand by what they think is right. You can't just remain quiet when you feel like you are being treated wrong then go home and whine about it to whoever is willing to listen. It's the survival of the fittest. If you can't learn how to swim, you will sink. Might as well stay home if that was the case. And the same goes with our OFWs in other foreign countries. Each and every place you move to will definitely change you whether you like it or not, consciously or subconsciously. When one person come to a society of millions, chances are the millions wouldn’t change for one person.
But you know what truly matters?
What truly matters is a person's ability to remember where they came from. Like they said, you may take the boy out of his home but you can never take away home from the boy. And Nonito absolutely embodies that. Yes, he isn't your typical Filipino that will say the things people want to hear all the time or would do what traditional Filipinos expect and prefer for him to do, but you know what, that doesn't mean he's a bad person or should be hated. He is proud to be a Filipino and loves to be around his people.
People criticize him for the fallout between him and his dad but do not realize he has said nothing but praises about his dad. One time I spoke to him on the phone after being set-up for a surprise interview with his dad in a local radio station in Cebu, he was so emotional and his voice trembling, just hurting because his father had said some hurtful things about him on the air. In his part, he kept silent.
If there's one thing I know about the Philippines, it's the politics that surround just about every thing that goes on down there. Nonito is a “stand-up” guy. He has solid values, the same values instilled to him by his parents like our parents have done for us. However, he has lived in a society that encourages you to speak-up and not hide what you honestly feel. For that, Nonito has been viewed as pompous and arrogant on the way to turning off some people in the media and fans as well. Next thing you know, you have writers bashing Nonito left and right, and rightfully so, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I can only write about things I have real knowledge about, but based on my personal experience, I can’t find anything negative to say about Nonito. I can't speculate either and tell you I know what is really going on between Nonito and his father but I can definitely tell you based on our conversations, Nonito loves and respects his dad more than anything. The boy simply had to move on and become his own man.
Here in the US, kids are encouraged to be independent at the age of 18. This was something Nonito had to do for himself. It's his life to live. He has every right to choose what makes him happy. Never did Nonito fail to give his father credit for his boxing career and is even proud to say all his success now is because he wanted to make his dad proud. There comes a point in every person's life though that you will have to be your own man. Father-and-son relationships in boxing, especially among the elite have a worse survival rate than marriage in America to begin with anyway. (See Roy Jones Jr., Floyd Mayweather Jr., Oscar De la Hoya and Sugar Shane Mosley)
Nonito is 26 years old. I think he's earned the right and is definitely old enough to decide what course he wants to take in his life which includes choosing the girl to make his wife. It was never his intent to break his ties with his father. His father was the one who took his life choices the wrong way and blasted him in the media. What was Nonito supposed to do? Turn his back on his vows he made after God because his dad disapproved of his wife? Nonito simply did what any loving husband would do for their wife. He stayed by her side, and for that his dad left his.
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