Philippine boxing idol Manny Pacquiao submitted his candidacy for next year’s elections yesterday, his second jab at a congressional seat.
Pacquiao, who defeated Miguel Cotto last month to win his seventh world boxing title in seven different weight classes, was accompanied by his wife, Jinkee, and mother, Dionisia, in filing his candidacy in southern Sarangani province’s Alabel township.
A former baker and construction worker born to a poor family, Pacquiao became an embodiment of a rags-to-riches story in the country where one-third of the 90 million people live on less than US$1 a day.
Supporters cheered as he released white balloons and showed them his certificate as the lead candidate of his party, the People’s Champ Movement, outside the Commission on Elections office in Alabel, about 1,000km south of Manila.
“I am ready, there’s no more turning back,” Pacquiuao told his supporters.
He was defeated in the congressional election in 2007 by incumbent opposition lawmaker, Darlene Custodio, who belongs to a prominent political clan in General Santos City.
Pacquiao is now facing a tough opponent supported by the three biggest political and business families in the province of Sarangani, who also have close links to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
He said that if elected: “I will work for children, for the health of our countrymen and for their livelihood.”
The 30-year-old WBO welterweight champion said that he had earlier stopped by the local church “to pray for a peaceful election, without any violence.”
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