MANNY PACQUIAO’S CAPITAL IDEA: Pinoy Idol, Promoter Bob Arum and media group prep for visit to United States Senate Tuesday, where Senator Harry Reid, powerful Nevada Democrat who got a late election campaign boost by the fighter, will speak about him on the Senate floor and then host a press conference and ?exchange of national flags? inside the hallowed halls of America’s….
What is top secret?genuine hush hush?is whether Manny and wife Jinkee and two others (probably Arum and his wife, Lovee) will make the short trip from the historic Hay-Adams Hotel, where all were ensconced Monday night after a private rail car trip from NY Penn Station to see the current residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or, as the locals like to call it, the White House.
I see from President Obama’s official website that he has no ?public activities? slated for Tuesday so maybe that’s a good thing and it means Megamanny, the Congressman from Sarangani, will get at least a brief chat and some awesome photos taken with Barack and possibly First Lady, Michelle Obama.
Manny and ?Bam Bam? meeting up and I don’t mean Top Rank boxer Brandon ?Bam Bam? Rios although I would hope my ex-world champion Robert Garcia’s sizzling prospect is a good Democrat. He often brays like a donkey so why not? That’s young Rios I mean, not trainer Garcia…
Pacquiao, the President of boxing right now and perhaps a future leader of his native Philippines, admitted to being a bit ?nervous? about meeting the Leader of the Free World, America’s own Commander In Chief.
And so did Jinkee, who likely will find a kindred spirit in style conscious but also socially aware and vibrant First Lady Michelle.
?I’m a little nervous, too,? Pacquiao said while riding the rails from the Big Apple. ?But I’m a professional.?
Speaking of which, Pacquiao said he has ample time using ?time management? skills to balance his fistic career and his role as a public servant.
For his part, Obama now faces a wicked budget battle in trying economic times and with rabid Republicans nipping at his heels as the GOP seeks to limit him to only one term at his current home.
I asked political novice Pacman what his priorities are, what is in the offing for his mainly poverty stricken constituents in Sarangani.
?I would like to be also known as someone who is a good public servant,? Pacquiao said softly.
?What I’m wishing for, what I want to bring to my province is first a hospital where there is none now.
Second, I want to make a public college or university for the people.
?I think we can combine this in the way that the hospital can also offer medical training. We can maybe offer training if you want to learn how to be a carpenter so we teach you how to do that. We want people to be able to learn skills that will give them a livelihood whether it is in the medical field or as carpenters.
?We want to have training center for learning for such skills. That way, we can maximize the whole situation for everybody.?
Ubiquitous Hermie Rivera had informed me that macho man Pacman put his foot down on Jinkee’s ambitions to act in movies and host television shows in their homeland.
Pacquiao retiterated to me that he had ?vetoed? his wife’s career idea.
?Why, what for?? Pacquiao said as his wife sat across from him, her head bobbing up and down as she listended to her trusty Ipad.
?I don’t wish my wife to become an actress, really. I want her to be the First Lady, to be like a princess. I don’t see a place for her in show business. By implication, when you go into show business, there’s a lot of gossip, a lot of intrigues and I don’t want that for my wife.?
After Pacman talked at length about his youthful passion for the quick hands and feet of action star Bruce Lee, I asked him who his favorite boxers were when he was young and impressionable.
There was no hesitation in answering.
?Roy Jones,? Pacquiao said, smiling brightly. ?Roy Jones and Sugar Ray Leonard, they were both so fast and so good.?
The subject of his loyal liege, controversial ?Canadian Pope? Michael Koncz was then addressed.
Koncz got a solid vote of confidence from his bossman.
?Michael Koncz, he is a Canadian…he is a hockey player,? Pacquiao said impishly.
?No, he is someone I rely on because he does a lot of thing here in America when I’m busy at home. I know what he can do. He is important to me but everybody on Team Pacquiao is important to me.?
We didn’t get into it but it seems clear that, unlike some around the fighter, Koncz has never been charged with or caught with his own hand in Manny’s till.
But there are a few characters in Manny’s periphery who have been caught doing so and guess what?
They’ve been chastized. They’ve been admonished. But none have been fired.
Now that is a pragmatic politician.
Capial footnote: Fast Freddie Sternburg is the perfvect “wrangler” for this political slash boxing quickie tour of DC as he cut his teeth in the pr field hereabouts as an understudy to the local legend Charley Brotman.
The publicity pair handled a kid from Palmer Park, Md., named Ray Charles Leonard, maybe you heard of him as it’s obvious that Pacman has.
Last time I checked, Mr. Brotman was about 83 or 84 years young and active as a the public address announcer for the major league baseball team here, the Nationals, among other things.
Speaking of Brotman revives memories, all humorous, of sportswriting legend, the late Morris “Mo” Siegel,
I’ve got 200 Mo Siegel stories, all of them a riot.
But we’ll leave those for later.
