Many great American athletes have gone on to very successful careers in politics.
Jack Kemp. J.C. Watts. Bill Bradley. Steve Largent. Jim Bunning. Bryon “Whizzer” White, a Rhodes Scholar, was an NFL Hall of Famer and later named by JFK to the U.S. Supreme Court.
No athlete has won a national office while at the height of their game.
Which makes Manny Pacquiao’s political victory, winning a seat in Philippines’ congress while overcoming the power of the billionaire Chiongbian clan that controls most of the region’s commerce, even more remarkable, not just noteworthy. The Chiongbian family owns most of the businesses and the power plant in Sarangani and have been in control for at least 30 years, until Tuesday.
For those of you inside the Beltway that are myopically American and only sprinkle a little taste of global politics on top your political pancakes, like for example when Great Britain’s prime minister is caught on tape calling a 60-something opinionated voter “a bigot,” well here is a truly sweet serving of victory for the hardworking good-guy Pacquiao who spent $1 million on his own campaign and worked the 379 precincts just like he was in the ring shredding his opponent.
For the record: Pacquiao, at 31 and in his prime. He is boxing’s biggest draw and last great hope, a seven-time world champion and current WBO Welterweight Champion of the World. He’s got an edgy, intimidating look, but as it turns out, he keeps his guard up at all times to apparently protect his biggest weapon: it turns Manny Pacquiao is all heart.
Even as he was about to win the fight of his life, as he told Nancy Gay of FanHouse.com, is all the sporting world wanted to know was if Pacman was going to fight Floyd Mayweather on Nov. 13, and would it be in Dallas’ new sports mecca, Texas Stadium.
(The complete story of the night Manny Pacquiao became a congressman in the Philippines is eloquently told by Nancy Gay of FanHouse.com. Click here to read about the fraud and the boxer’s total devotion to his homeland and all the elements he had to overcome to get a job working for his countrymen.)
Nancy Gay of FanHouse.com reported and photographed Pacquiao, ever the hard worker, getting polling results relayed directly to his mobile phone and also powerful two-way radios by his poll watchers stationed throughout Sarangani’s 379 clustered precincts. All of them were instructed to read results as they were reported electronically to the Philippines Commission on Elections, or Comelec.
Pacquiao had other victories on his mind Monday night. He was using his powerful personality, his sizable wallet and his excellent work ethic to secure victory and wrest power from the rich and try to give back to his people.
In 2007, Pacquiao — who doles out daily handouts of money and food to poor townspeople outside the front doors of his homes throughout Mindanao — felt that way in defeat, abandoned at election time by the people he works so hard to help in his home country.
With such power, influence and social gravitas in his home country, how could the greatest boxer in the world lose? Answer: like in most elections, corruption is usually the big winner in third-world or under-developed industrial countries.
Like the boxer he is, after his 2007 defeat, Pacquiao reassessed his political possibilities and changed his fight strategies.
Pacquiao spent over $1 million of his own money to finance his campaign. The number is staggering when you consider most of his constituency is desperately poor coconut farmers, tuna fishermen or laborers who exist on less than $2 a day.
Defeated soundly in his poorly run 2007 congressional campaign in the province of South Cotabato that saw him lose to the Antonino-Custodio political clan that runs General Santos City, Pacquiao was determined to conduct a more sound, organized campaign this time.
A well-known ally of outgoing (and unpopular) president Gloria Arroyo, Pacquiao ensured he would successfully challenge the Chiongbians by personally financing a highly sophisticated campaign, one that also relied on grass roots rallies and — in some cases — financial incentives that would encourage his desperately poor constituents to vote for him and his People’s Champ Movement (PCM) party ticket.
Pacquiao selected a province further south, Sarangani, the birthplace of his wife, Jinkee, for this congressional campaign, and he laid his bets that his celebrity and promises of helping the poor rise to self-sufficiency would resonate with voters.
It did, by an overwhelming margin.
While Top Rank boss Bob Arum excitedly called out results Monday night at the PCM campaign center, an increasingly confident Arum beamed when Pacquiao burst into the room with more positive results.
“Mr. Congressman!” Pacquiao said excitedly, dancing into the room.
At Arum’s request, a local reporter called Roy Chiongbian’s nephew and made an offer: concede by 9:30 p.m., two ringside tickets to Pacquiao’s next fight.
Chiongbian laughed, but politely refused the offer.
A midnight visit to Chiongbian’s home in General Santos City by FanHouse’s Nancy Gay found the favored candidate asleep. He had called it a night.
Throughout the Pacquiao campaign office, cheers erupted when a new result was reported. As night turned into the early hours of Tuesday, voting results slowly trickled in by mobile phone. By 2 a.m., most of the Pacquiao campaign office had turned in for the night as official Comelec reporting ceased until 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“It’s a landslide!” an ecstatic Pacquiao told FanHouse.com, clad in jeans, sneakers and a Lacoste polo shirt, said excitedly 90 minutes after the polls closed nationwide Monday at 7 p.m., marking the conclusion of an electronic voting process that was surprisingly smooth despite scattered reports of violent uprisings, random attacks and at least six killings during the final days of voting.
“I don’t know how to explain, how happy I am,” said Zaldy Du, a local businessman and trader who offered his home to Pacquiao for use as the campaign nerve center. “I am accepting no money for this. No payment for the power. I’m doing it because I’m the No. 1 boxing fan of Manny Pacquiao.”
“This is the biggest achievement of Manny’s life. More than any boxing match,” Pacquiao’s adviser, Michael Koncz told FanHouse.com, adding that Pacquiao will make an official proclamation of victory at 11 a.m local time Tuesday.
Pacquiao is truly Manny of the People. He will be sworn into office in late June and can fulfill his congressional duties in July. That will allow him to continue training for the planned November fight.
In the Philippines, Superman wears a simple T-shirt, stands 5-foot-6, weighs 145 pounds, and is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the people.
