Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 27) — Kobe Bryant was not their own. Yet, Filipinos poured out their love and adoration for the Black Mamba as they remembered his life in their own, different ways.
Celebrities, athletes, and fans all over the world including Filipinos, woke up to the same, devastating news that Kobe Bryant had died Monday, together with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.
Everybody wished it was a dream they can snap out of. Sadly, it was the heart-wrenching reality.
“Sino ba naman maniniwala in the morning na yun yung first news na makikita mo. And then when I opened the news, it’s real! I was like, wow! What a day!”said PBA star LA Tenorio.
[TRANSLATION: Who would believe that it’s the first news you’ll see in the morning? And then when I opened the news, it’s real! I was like, wow! What a day!]
“So I checked my social media and everything, everything is about Kobe. It’s really sad,” he added.
Bryant’s chopper went down in Calabasas, California, 60 kilometers northwest of Downtown, Los Angeles. He was 41.
In 2011, Gilas Pilipinas played against him and the NBA All-Star team. Bryant last visited Manila in 2016, which was the same year when he retired from the NBA.
Aside from being a five-time NBA champion among many other achievements only he has attained, Bryant was also a loving husband and father. This is something another PBA player Arwind Santos admired about the Laker superstar.
“I saw how he loved and focused on his children, like how I also support mine,” he said.
Santos later on expressed his thanks to Bryant for changing the game of basketball, especially because of his “mamba mentality.”
Filipino supporters and die-hard fans also celebrated the life of the two-time Olympic champion by coming down to the Araneta Coliseum to pay tribute to Bryant, who had visited the Philippines a couple of times.
“Nung nalaman ko yung news, nalungkot ako pero nakita ko yung mga kapwa ko may puso para kay Kobe, nagsama-sama kami dito. Yun nga lang di maganda kasi sa ganitong event pa kami nagsama-sama,” said Joma Guevarra, who’s one of the fans who went to the Araneta Coliseum.
[TRANSLATION: When I found out about the news, I got sad. But I saw the other fans of Kobe, and we all went down here. It’s just sad that we gathered at this time.]
It might take a while before his fans heal from his passing. But Kobe Bryant’s legacy will definitely live on because legends are forever.
