BY all accounts, world boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao could be running for the top position in the land if only for the throngs of wire reporters and international press that are descending to General Santos hoping to get a piece of the headline for their news agency and media outlets and other sidebar stories.
?Ang dami naming nakasabay na wire reporters sa eroplano (There were lots of wire reporters in the plane with us,? said Rowena Paraan of the National Union of Journalists Philippines (NUJP) who flew into town yesterday along with two foreign correspondents and two other officers of the journalists? union.
Paraan and her company are covering another event not related to Pacquiao running as a candidate for the lone congressional district of Sarangani.
Philippine Daily Inquirer?s Aquiles Zonio said he was approached by a French television crew to arrange an interview with Pacquiao and his opponent in the congressional race, Roy Chiongbian.
?Reporters from a Thai magazine are also here,? said Joseph Jubelag of Mindanao Bulletin.
Gary Poole of TIME magazine said he is taking the same flight with Manny and will stay for three days to join the boxing champion?s campaign sorties.
Local journalists and photo correspondents have been contacted by wire reporters to act as guides while covering Manny?s second stab at politics.
In 2007, Manny ran but lost miserably to Darlene Antonino Custodio for the congressional race in his home city of General Santos.
Manny has since changed residence and has adopted his wife Jinky?s hometown in Kiamba, Sarangani as his new abode. To bolster his chances, Manny even built another mansion in Kiamba.
With his popularity reaching unprecedented heights, Manny hopes to cash in on it and finally notch that elusive win in the political arena.
Manny?s attempt to win a seat in Philippine Congress may not land as banner story of major newspapers and other media outlets but he will make a good copy, especially in the sports section.
A recent article in GQ (http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201004/manny-pacquiao-boxer), a popular men?s fashion magazine, is providing both the local and foreign press possible juicy side stories and other trivia on the political side of Manny the boxing champion.
And the tons of sidebar stories are threatening to make Manny?s candidacy into a media circus if not create a wedge between and among members of the local media.
Manny?s camp has enlisted a number of members of the local media to make a pitch for his political ambitions and has reportedly marked out those it perceived as sympathetic to, if not working with, the other side of the political fence.
If Manny is a unifying factor for the Filipinos every time he is fighting ?for honor and country? atop the ring, it is the other way around in partisan politics. His camp is not doing the local media any good as his media handlers are reportedly reducing the local press into two camps – either one is for Manny or against him.
Such is Manny?s clout and newfound wealth that a number of the local press is gravitating towards him ? good copy aside.
In fact, Manny?s camp has put up its own newspaper and printing press. There are also reports that the seven-division boxing champion will soon bankroll the re-operation of a defunct radio station which network has Manny as in-house talent.
So serious is Manny?s desire to win that his political camp bought air time from a leading radio station in General Santos as early as last year in preparation for Manny?s political run this year.
Manny has 45 days left beginning today to achieve that cherished dream of being addressed as ?Honorable? and so are the press. Those 45 days will keep reporters and correspondents busy churning out stories about everything in local politics that has a Pacquiao flavor on them.
And this will be quite a media circus.
