GENERAL SANTOS CITY ? World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao said anew here that he is not involved in any way with the murder of GMA 7 radio reporter Jonathan Abayon.
Pacquiao aired the clarification amid persistent public belief that the champion was linked to or had knowledge of the Aug. 8 gunslaying of Abayon.
?Former Army Sgt. William Bael is not my bodyguard. He seldom went with me. And alone, he shot Abayon on his own,? Pacquiao told reporters at a press conference held Friday at Phela Grande Hotel here.
With the world featherweight boxing sensation were his lawyer and spokesman Atty. Jeng Gacal, Mayor Jojo Lopez of Maasim, Sarangani, and Supt. Willy Dangane, city police chief.
Pacquiao?s clarification was supported by Lopez, who admitted that Bael is his relative. Dangane and Gacal said two witnesses ? Gonzalo Lopez and Odoy Jamora ? pointed to the former soldier as the killer.
All three also claimed that Bael was not a bodyguard of Pacquiao. Bael just happens to be a friend of one of the champion?s bodyguards, Erning Madidis, they said.
They said if he is involved, it would be impractical and self-destructive for Pacquiao to help get two witnesses against the ex-soldier, especially Odoy Jamora, brother-in-law of Pacquiao.
Gacal reiterated Pacquiao?s previous statement that he was already asleep at dawn last Sunday when the shooting took place in the pickup vehicle of Gonzalo Lopez.
A friend of Pacquiao, Lopez, owner of a billiard hall where Pacquiao usually plays, joined the Guardians Brotherhood party at Sydney Hotel last Sunday.
After s drinking several rounds of liquor, Abayon and Bael figured in an altercation during the affair. Abayon had to join Pacquiao in going home to interview the champion on his rematch with world featherweight champion Antonio Barriera in November.
