Whether she did say those words or not is still unclear. But for a fleeting moment during the US Open, Alex Eala let all of us live vicariously through her.
When Alex Eala was caught on camera at the US Open mouthing what appeared to be the most common curse phrase in the Filipino language, the Internet predictably exploded.
On the one hand, there were the moralists who were asking how a seemingly wholesome 20-year-old Filipina could do that.
On the other hand, an overwhelming majority of Filipino sports fans loved it.
To be very clear, though, Eala has not confirmed exactly she said. Nor has anyone conclusively lip-read it. One theory making the rounds on social media was that she actually uttered “Muntikan na” (personally I’m not buying this).
At this point, it may not matter anymore. Judging from the volume of memes that sprouted almost overnight, Pinoys appear to have made up their minds. They are convinced it’s what she said, and you can’t take away this moment from them. In the heat of battle, with emotions running high, show me a Filipino who hasn’t shouted a heartfelt P.I.
There was something so pure, so Pinoy, about the gesture, that it endeared Alex even more to her Filipino fans. The truth is, we love seeing Filipino athletes being, well, Filipino while exceling on the global stage. It makes us easier to identify with them, to embrace them as one of our own.
It’s why Efren Reyes and Manny Pacquiao are two of the most popular Filipino sportspersons of all time. Aside from their otherworldly talents, they have displayed other traits that are distinctly Filipino.
This goes beyond the fact that both Reyes and Pacquiao are longtime practitioners of “carabao English.” There’s nothing wrong with that; in fact it enhanced their images and allowed us to simultaneously laugh at them while idolizing them. It humanized them all the more.
Maybe it was their easygoing smiles or their humility, but Manny and Efren always gave off a vibe that screamed Pinoy. If you’re a Filipino who for some strange, virtually impossible reason didn’t know who Reyes and Pacquiao were and saw them on TV for the first time, you’d know instantly that they were your kababayans. They simply look the part.
Reyes even dresses the part. No matter where he is – and he’s been traveling a lot lately as a sort of de facto ambassador for Matchroom Pool’s World Nineball Tournament – he has always been most comfortable wearing the very Pinoy outfit of polo shirt and jeans.
When he won the 1999 World Pool Championship, Bata was asked what he intended to do with the prizemoney. “Buy my wife a CRV” was his immediate reply. Reyes certainly wasn’t the first athlete in the world to buy his wife a new car, but the way he said it had an unmistakable Pinoy vibe.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, has never met a videoke machine he didn’t like. It’s been said before and proven without a single shred of doubt that next to basketball, Filipinos love to sing. While his actual singing isn’t as graceful as his 1-2 combinations, it does put Manny in the same league as your average Filipino videoke lover. It made it easier to relate to him.
Yes, Pacman and his family now live the life of millionaires, and his carefully manicured social media posts paint an image of affluence, but it is precisely his rags-to-riches story that has always resonated with fans.
And through it all, he never lost what Jo Koy once described as “the thickest Filipino accent ever.” Go on YouTube and look up his post-fight interviews. Manny has undoubtedly improved his communication skills through the years, but the accent and Pinoy colloquialisms remain.
Which brings us back to Alex Eala. Unlike Manny and Efren, who relied as much on street smarts as on their raw talent to get up in the world, Alex trained from an early age in a world-class facility and was slowly eased into a different culture. As such, she was a little more prepared for the spotlight on the global stage.
And perhaps this is why her viral moment resonated so loudly. Alex undoubtedly is a wonderful ambassador for the Philippines: she’s a winner, she’s polite and articulate, and she proudly wears our nation’s colors.
So initially there was a slight shock to the system when she displayed her incredulity in an unfiltered way that was familiar to all of us. But the shock quickly turned into delirium, as she was essentially just vocalizing what we were all thinking. Pinoy pride, but of a different kind.
We all live vicariously through our sporting heroes. So when we saw Alex Eala exclaim what we thought she exclaimed, our reaction was either “Mismo!” or “Sinabi mo pa!”
Spoken like a true Pinoy.
Banner images from AFP