WORLD boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has set his return for Tuesday next week and will only have a couple of days or so to shake off the jet lag before plunging into the campaign trail.
Manny needs to make up for the lost ground. He was away for more than 60 days While training for the Clottey fight and by March 26, only has 45 days left to make a strong push for his bid to win a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives.
The Filipino boxing superstar will have his hands full as he faces the difficult challenge of dislodging a well-entrench political clan in Sarangani.
Businessman Roy Chiongbian is running against the popular Filipino boxing hero.
Roy, at 61, is the younger brother of outgoing Rep. Erwin Chiongbian who will bow out after serving his last of three consecutive three-year term.
Roy is a neophyte in politics but has the pedigree of his parents who were responsible for the creation of Sarangani as a province.
Coy but collected, Roy is articulate – far different from his elder brother whose mobility and presence in the province was limited by kidney ailment.
Team Pacquiao, at least the political side, is pouncing on Rep. Chiongbian’s prolonged absence and is making a pitch on Manny’s inexhaustible energy.
Otherwise, Team Pacquiao is veritably running on a campaign platform that does not really make Manny different from all other politicians.
My source, however, says all is not well inside the political Team Pacquiao.
Team (political) Pacquiao is a merry mix of hangers on, freeloaders, recycled politicians and advisers – each having agenda of their own but united by Manny’s enormous campaign kitty.
Whether Team Pacquiao will admit it or not, Manny’s decision to take on Joshua Clottey last March 13 was fueled by the need to load up his war chest more than adding another milestone to his already overachieving boxing career.
In the words of his closest legal adviser Jeng Gacal, Team Pacquiao is “a snake pit” no different from Malaca?ang.
Ten years ago, you would never imagine this mayoral candidate in Team Pacquiao will wipe Manny with hot towel inside, of all places, a popular bar in General Santos City in the presence of hotel guests.
Another mayoralty candidate would never allow himself to be pushed around and given a not so friendly dig to the body the Filipino boxing sensation.
A trusted political ally would never bow to a boxer, unless he is Manny. And even if he has resurrected his political fortunes with Manny’s full backing, Manny still calls the shot because the boxing champ continues to hold the purse.
A lawyer once confided that he declined a position in the People’s Champ Movement, Pacquiao’s local political party, because he cannot bear to rub shoulders with a politician-friend of Manny whose human rights record and philandering ways do not sit well with him.
When Manny left to train for his Clottey fight, this candidate proudly proclaimed he is the boss in the absence of Manny, to the consternation of Manny’s closest political adviser whose father was a bitter political rival.
Strange bedfellows, is that what we call?
Inside Team Pacquiao, a group is pushing for a PDS combination – Pacquiao-Dominguez-Solon.
Dominguez is of course, incumbent Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez against whom Manny is fielding Juan Domino – nemesis of the Chiongbians but has lost the gubernatorial elections in 2001 together with his wife who also ran of Congress.
Solon, on the other hand is Steve Solon, nephew of Roy Chiongbian against whom Manny is running.
An inevitable crack and fission-in-the-making inside the political camp of Manny Pacquiao is slowly shaping up.
For how can you explain this candidate building up cases against his party mates in the event that the group will implode in the effort of individual members to get Manny’s favor? Or seedy tales of political allies banging their pistols on the table because one is upping the other over campaign funds?
A recent article from popular men’s magazine GQ, where Manny’s dysfunctional entourage was chronicled in lurid details, is but the tip of the iceberg.
There will be more mud to come Manny’s way.
Unless Manny can reign over his warring candidates, ward leaders and advisers – not to forget his growing relatives – he may yet suffer another political thrashing.
