MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will finally receive and formally congratulate Manny Pacquiao on Monday for his stunning, two-round demolition of British boxer Ricky Hatton last May 3.
?He has already passed all the precautionary protocols at the airport and he passed with flying colors,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Sunday. ?So in fairness to our ?national fist? (pambansang kamao), he does not pose as a health hazard to anyone.?
Remonde said Pacquiao would be formally welcomed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and the Presidential Security Group band and honor guards at the Malaca?ang grounds on Monday.
Ermita will read to Pacquiao Arroyo?s official proclamation declaring May 11 as a ?national day of celebration.? The event will be followed by a luncheon with the President.
Arroyo was supposed to meet with Pacquiao last Friday, but reset it for Monday upon the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO asked Pacquiao and his entourage to go on a five-day self-quarantine since they had stayed in Los Angeles where health officials had detected a “third-generation, human-to-human” spread of the deadly H1N1 flu virus.
