THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) recently ordered senatorial candidate Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel ?Manny? Pacquiao to comment on petitions filed by senatorial candidate Walden Bello and former senator Renato Saguisag against his forthcoming boxing match with erstwhile opponent timothy Bradley on April 9, 2016 (April 10 here in the Philippines) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The petitions seek to prohibit Manny from allegedly obtaining extra media mileage and consequently having an unfair and undue campaign advantage during the said fight and asking that it be postponed to another date.
Both Bello and Saguisag are well respected gentlemen and astute politicians, and they are in fact even full of wisdom, however in the petitions that they have filed with Comelec we perceive that somehow, in some irrational way, their senses seemed to have abandoned them. How else to explain their insistence that Pacquiao be restrained by Comelec from participating in his scheduled bout against Bradley by the resetting of the fight, does Comelec even have jurisdiction where sporting events held abroad are concerned?
It is important to understand that the Pacquiao-Bradley fight on April 9, 2016 is covered by numerous contracts and agreements both here and in the USA. In fact, there are a minimum of four parties involved in the consummation of the deal for Manny and Timothy to slug it out in the casino paradise of Las Vegas, Nevada. The first two parties are the camps of both Pacquiao and Bradley brokered by another party, that of legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum, who heads Top Rank Promotions, and then there are the pay-per view cable companies, as well as other media outlets who have secured the rights over the airing and broadcast of the rubber match between Pacquiao and Bradley.
In other words, everything is set to go on April 9 barring any unforeseen event or calamity that would befall the boxers or the arena where they will go toe-to-toe once more.
And so if the fight is postponed or reset to another date by some manner other than those already stipulated as conditions in the contracts and agreements above mentioned, it will surely open a floodgate of suits that would direly affect the boxing world, much as when former boxing legend and controversial pugilist Mike Tyson bit off part of the ear of his opponent Evander Holyfield.
No less than Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista had conceded that the poll body could not stop the fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, admitting that it is beyond their jurisdiction.
Now perhaps, it would also be reasonable to question the sanity behind the petitions filed by Bello and Saguisag since everyone knows not just here in the country but all around the world that Manny is as very famous person. By earning the monicker ?Pambansang Kamao? and becoming the pride of the nation, he is by himself already the epitome of an unfair advantage in terms of fame and popularity. How can other senatorial candidates even contemplate to challenge Pacquiao?s popularity with the masses? Even without the media mileage sought during the political campaign, Manny already enjoys a serious advantage in popularity over all the other senatorial candidates by having become a household name in the Philippines for the past several years.
This is a fact that must be accepted.
There is no question that Pacquiao will have to fight on April 9, 2016, that is his profession and he hopes to entertain the Filipino people once again.
If Comelec will ever entertain the idea of prohibiting or banning the actual fight on April 9 here in the country, that will only fuel and generate anger from the public who would like nothing more than to momentarily escape from the daily problems of life and be entertained by their ?Kababayan? pugilist. In fact, preventing the actual bout from being shown and broadcast through the media may have the indirect effect of adding to the popularity of Pacquiao since Filipinos have been known to back the underdog, and a reverse of what the petitions attempt to suppress.
That being said, Bello and Saguisag should have realized that Manny is only popular with the masses because of his boxing skills and not for his acumen in politics. Allowing Manny to fight and be viewed live by the Filipino people on April 9, provided he does not say anything related to his campaign for senator, will be to the best interests of everybody and solely for the sake of entertainment.
Nothing more, nothing less.
