MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao is investing 1.22 billion pesos ($25.8 million) in a 400-hectare special economic zone, including a cancer treatment clinic, in his hometown, a senior trade official said on Tuesday.
Revered across the Philippines and widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Pacquiao has been investing in small businesses but is broadening his horizons. The 30-year-old is even said to harbour political ambitions.
The development, which includes medical tourism facilities, an information technology park and a retirement village near General Santos City, was to be funded 60 percent from Pacquiao’s personal funds and 40 percent through bank loans, said Lilia de Lima, head of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
The Manny Pacquiao Heights Development Corp. (MPHDC) was expected to start operations on the southern island of Mindanao by the first quarter of 2010 after the government approves the plans, de Lima told reporters.
Pacquiao could not be reached for comment.
In her report to Trade Secretary Peter Favila, de Lima said Pacquiao’s group was already in talks with two foreign-based companies to set up a proposed Philippine International Cancer Centre, the centrepiece in the zone.
They included New York-based Bio City Development Co, a healthcare company that runs cancer centres in Dubai, Hong Kong and Western Europe.
Pacquiao, 30, knocked out Briton Ricky Hatton in the second round of their IBO light-welterweight world title bout in Las Vegas earlier this month.
He owns a franchise of local fastfood chain, apartment blocks, has recorded songs and produced a B-movie when not training or fighting in the ring.
