WHEN international boxing champ Manny Pacquiao announced that he would be running for congressman of South Cotabato’s first district, he surely did not expect the knockdown he had received from incumbent Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio, who ran for a third and final term in the last May 14 elections.
A day into the counting of the votes, it was obvious that Antonino-Custodio had battered the iconic boxing hero in the political arena.
This is Pacquiao’s most brutal defeat so far even if it didn’t happen in the boxing ring. Making his defeat more humiliating was Pacquiao’s initial refusal to concede even as Antonino-Custodio continued to pad her lead in the polls tally.
Running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Antonino-Custodio, 33, is a vocal critic of President Arroyo. In recent media interviews, Antonino-Custodio had admitted that generating funds for projects in South Cotobato was difficult for her, coming from the opposition.
Pacquiao, 28, ran under the administration’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), reportedly spending P100 million in his campaign, during which he supposedly distributed sacks of rice and promised more funding for projects in South Cotobato.
But it was clear that fans of Pacquiao want their hero to stay out of politics. It was also clear that Antonino-Custodio was more popular than Pacquiao in the realm of politics.
Antonino-Custodio had supported the impeachment complaints filed against President Arroyo. She was also among the opposition congressmen, who had opposed the expanded value-added tax and the Charter change.
During her six years in Congress, Antonino-Custodio had actively participated in several debates in plenary and committee hearings, and had filed bills both of national and local significance.
Referring to the Pacquiao-Antonino-Custodio face off, the House majority leader, Rep. Prospero Nograles of Davao City, said: “It seems the people there want him [Pacquiao] to just be the people’s champion and not a member of the House. They probably believe politics will distract or destroy him.”
“To each his own field in life,” he added.
Party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva of the Citizen’s Battle against Corruption said Antonino-Custodio had gained the trust and confidence of her constituents primarily because they believe she could lead them.
“I think there’s a lot that people there have considered as far as the background of the two are concerned. They take Darlene and they have her track record in politics and governance; they take Manny and they have his track record in sports. In the end the people voted for who they need and who they think can lead them.”
“One cannot take for granted Darlene’s own kind of popularity. She’s been out there a lot of times too,” Villanueva added.
