BEFORE he meets Mexican Oscar Larios in a boxing match this July, Manny Pacquiao should first face his legal bout, said Joanna Rose Bacosa, his alleged former girlfriend and mother of a two-year-old boy she claims is the boxing champ?s son. ?I hope he?ll be man enough to face us before his next fight,? Bacosa said.
Pacquiao was again a no-show at yesterday?s hearing at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court where Bacosa has filed against him charges of violating the law protecting women and children from violence.
Bacosa?s lawyer, Victor Rodriguez, said, ?Ordinarily, a person who is innocent is eager to face his accuser. But if he?s guilty, then he will exhaust all legal remedies to avoid a meeting.?
Bacosa, who has accused Pacquiao of refusing to support their child and even threatening to have the boy kidnapped if she went to the court, submitted her reply to Pacquiao?s counteraffidavit yesterday. The boxer earlier denied Bacosa?s charges but neither confirmed nor denied having an affair with her. He has avoided meeting his accuser and their alleged son in previous hearings.
In her reply, Bacosa said Pacquiao?s denial of having engaged in a romantic relationship with her ran counter to his claim that he had given sufficient support to the child.
If the boxer did not believe the boy was his child, then it was strange that he should give financial support to them, she pointed out.
