MANILA, Philippines?A cut-and-paste affair in the House of Representatives, but this may not be to the liking of Jinkee Pacquiao.
Apparently unknown to her and millions of fans of the world boxing champ, Emmanuel ?Manny? Pacquiao may have married a certain ?Elizabeth B. Salvacion? as indicated in the new congressman’s official website in the House of Representatives.
Who’s she?
At the onset, nobody seemed to have an inkling about the real identity of Salvacion, but for a fleeting moment she was the official better half of the boxing champ.
As everyone knows, Pacquiao is married to Maria Geraldine “Jinkee” Jamora, and they have four children.
Through a Google search, it turns out that Salvacion is the spouse of Rep. Andres Salvacion Jr. of the third District of Leyte.
The web page also contained other interesting information?Pacquiao’s date of birth: ?28 May 1942.?If he were 68, Pacquiao could be the only senior citizen to win in seven boxing divisions.
The pride of the Philippines now wants to make history in the House after he was elected representative of the lone district of Sarangani last May.
The boxer-turned-lawmaker is 31 years old since he was born on Dec. 17, 1978 in Bukidnon.
It was evident that most of Representative Salvacion’s personal information was copied by the still-to-be-identified culprit, including the Leyte’s congressman’s birthday, age, civil status and spouse’ name.
The Information and Communication Technology Service was at a loss when asked about the glaring error in Pacquiao’s member information web page. (http://www.congress.gov.ph/members/search.php?congress=15&id=pacquiao).
However, the error-filled page was taken down Tuesday afternoon, but the information on his date of birth, civil service status and spouse’ name were left vacant.
The mix-up provided a comic relief to the neophyte congressman and members of the House press corps.
While he was personally checking the erroneous website information at the press room (enterprising reporters have managed to save a copy of the old website), the Barong-clad boxer didn’t give a hoot.
Cracking a joke, he said:
?I’m already 68? But how old am I? Uugod-ugod na ako nun (I would have been wobbly by then).?
He was obviously thankful when shown with an updated version of the website.
But when a reporter pointed out that the updated version did not contain the name of his spouse and other personal details, he said:
?Ha? So I’m not married??
Nonetheless, he gave a nonchalant shrug, telling the media to forget about the unfortunate episode.
?No (need for apology). It’s O.K. It’s just an oversight ? and people know how old I am, where I live, who is my wife and how many children I have,? he said, politely evading a question if he had more than one wife.
In a statement, House Secretary General Marilyn Barua-Yap appeared to have been unaware of the whole thing.
?The Secretary General?s office have not released any data on the personal information submitted by members of the House of Representatives for website posting. We are looking into the matter,? Yap said.
Obviously on the defensive, she stressed that her office could not possibly be the source of said wrong information because ?we don?t release any data on the personal information of House members without their consent.?
?Those are basic but very important data that we should be very careful about. We always double check our data. We are checking because it?s unfair to Representative Pacquiao and his family and the people of Sarangani,? she said.
What appears to be the only redeeming value in Pacquiao’s web page is a lone entry under ?House bills co-authored.?
Less than a month after Congress’ opening, Pacquiao was able to file a bill?House Bill No. 1098 seeking the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections set for Oct. 2010.
