Is boxing champion Manny Pacquiao running for Congress?
Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said yesterday Pacquiao is withdrawing from the congressional race in General Santos City in South Cotabato to focus on his boxing career.
However, Pacquiao said in an interview on GMA 7’s 24 Oras that he had not changed his mind and that he would run as representative of General Santos City in the first congressional district of South Cotabato.
“I have not retracted my earlier statement that I would run,” he said in Filipino.
“I would still run. I said I would set aside my campaign because I would become busy in my training. My opponent is good and it would be embarrassing to lose.”
When news anchors Mel Tiangco and Mike Enriquez asked when he would file his certificate of candidacy and when he would make his final decision to run, Pacquiao said: “I’m not sure because I would be in the United States by then. I don’t know what would happen. But I am not retracting on what I said that I would run. I would just set aside the campaign.”
He would not campaign when he runs for Congress because he would like to focus on his fight with Mexican Jorge Solis in the US on April 14, Pacquiao said.
The 28-year-old Pacquiao’s business manager Eric Pineda also said the boxing champ has decided to brush aside politics to focus on his boxing career.
“There’s a right time for politics,” Pineda quoted Pacquiao as saying. “I will concentrate on boxing first. I will concentrate on my next fight.”
However, Pineda said Pacquiao would help campaign for the party-list Partido ng Bayaning Atleta, and some other friends running for election, especially those under the Liberal Party.
Pacquiao would have faced Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio in the May 14 elections.
Atienza said he was able to convince Pacquiao to drop his political plans after almost 12 hours of bonding in Cebu last Saturday where they watched three Filipino boxers in international fights. Deadline for filing of certificates of candidacy for local posts is March 29.
“I am happy with his decision,” Atienza said.
“He has decided to set aside politics and concentrate on his boxing career and his upcoming fight.”
Atienza said he went to Cebu last Feb. 24, and that from noon until evening, he spent the time talking with Pacquiao.
“I had a long talk with him last Saturday,” he said.
“I went to Cebu to talk to Manny Pacquiao because I knew he was training there. I wanted to talk to him lengthily on his quandary and obligations on politics and on his fight.”
Atienza said he explained to Pacquiao his predicament if he continued his plan to run for Congress in his home province of General Santos City.
“I have never prevented anyone to pursue politics,” he said.
“If he had said that he would pursue his candidacy, then I would support him. He is a patriotic and God-fearing genius. He is at the peak of his career in boxing, and politics can wait.
“Politics and boxing, they cannot mix. He should also consider what would be good for the country. I gave him a clear picture of the world of politics in relation to his world at the moment. He understood very well what I said to him.”
In General Santos City, Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal said Atienza might have been misquoted “because every time we have the chance to talk, politics is always his utterance.”
“We were together here in Manila for several days, but Manny never mentioned to me that he is no longer interested in running this coming election,” he said.
“In his words, I did not sense that he would back out from his plans to run for Congress,” he said.
Atienza, a long-time supporter of Pacquiao had named the boxing champion as an “adopted son” of Manila.
In return, the 28-year-old Pacquiao regards Atienza as his second father.
Last Feb. 9, Pacquiao was sworn in as a member of the Liberal Party (LP) Atienza wing.
While in Cebu, Atienza and Pacquiao watched a boxing match.
In a previous interview, Atienza said he wants to meet with Pacquiao before the latter leaves for the United States to train in preparation for his bout with Solis.
Atienza said he was disturbed by news reports that Pacquiao, upon the advice of officials in General Santos City, had decided to run for Congress.
If he wins a seat in the House of Representatives, Pacquiao will support legislation that will promote education, job creation, and medicine for the poor.
At Malaca?ang, Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio said he would clarify from Pacquiao reports that he would not run as representative in the first district of South Cotabato against Antonino-Custodio.
“Even before Manny Pacquiao said he wanted to run for Congress, we already have some emerging names from the ruling coalition who would run for that district,” he said in a telephone interview.
Claudio said if Pacquiao’s decision is already final, the administration would have no recourse but to look for a replacement for him.
“His (Pacquiao) decision was entirely personal,” he said.
Pacquiao is scheduled to face Solis in San Antonio, Texas on April 14.
He will leave for Los Angeles on the first week of March to continue his training at the Wild Card Gym.
He has been training for more than a week now in General Santos City. —Evelyn Macairan, Patricia Esteves, John Paul Jubelag, Abac Cordero, Paolo Romero
