‘ALI’ and ‘Pacman’ a tag team in the political arena?
A namesake of boxing’s greatest and the Filipinos’ modern-day ring hero back-to-back in taking on all bureaucratic braves?
Two young athletes facing off with grizzled politicians for the right to run the affairs of the country’s capital?
Could there be a more lethal combination?
Now if only the two – Arnold ‘Ali’ Atienza and Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao – would confirm – or deny – early speculations.
The possibility of Atienza, an Asian taekwondo champion and son of the Mayor of Manila, and Pacquiao teaming up as Mayor-Vice Mayor in next year’s elections surfaced a few weeks ago after the fighter from General Santos City (formerly Dadiangas) sought residency in Manila.
Atienza, head of the Manila Sports Council, IBC-13 newscaster and recently appointed presidential adviser for youth and sports, has, of course, been going the rounds of the metropolis, pumping hands with city folks while wearing the likeness of his father’s signature floral polo shirts.
And with Pacquiao, an adoptive son of Manila, now eligible to run for public office in the capital, political matchmakers are seeing a connection that appears truer than a right straight and meaner than a roundhouse.
Neither the boxer nor the taekwondo jin, however, is getting ready to rumble just yet.
”No comment,” says Ali Atienza the other day, laughing. ”Ang tagal-tagal pa niyan. Trabaho muna tayo.”
Even Pacquiao, on several radio interviews, has avoided the issue like an Erik Morales right hook.
All right. No more probing for now.
But then when one is inside the ring with either of these champions, one need not see it to know that a fist or a foot is coming.
Unannounced, unadvertised, one would just feel it when it hits.
Come January next year, when the filing of candidacy begins, it will.
