Presidential bets courting boxing idol

ALABEL, Sarangani -- Political heavyweights are courting boxing idol Emmanuel "Manny" D. Pacquiao to win his endorsement for the May 2010 presidential elections in an effort to cash in on his soaring popularity.

Mr. Pacquiao said here yesterday he would soon announce which candidate he is backing but denied reports he was already aligned with Senator Manuel "Manny" B. Villar, Jr., one of the frontrunners in the presidential race.

"I will announce later what is my [national] party and who is the presidential candidate I am aligning with," he told reporters in this Southern Mindanao town at a gathering of his People’s Champ Movement, a new local party Mr. Pacquiao is starting.

He admitted meeting with Mr. Villar in Manila on Friday but denied that he had already joined forces with his Nacionalista Party (NP). "I did not give any commitment," he said.

Manila dailies gave front-page coverage to reports that Mr. Villar was offering to make Pacquiao the official NP candidate for congressman of Sarangani.

This is despite a longtime alliance between Mr. Pacquiao and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who has endorsed another candidate, ex-Defense chief Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr., as her presidential bet.

In Manila, Arroyo spokesman Cerge M. Remonde downplayed the speculation, saying "that is between Manny Villar and Manny Pacquiao. We will not interfere in that and we will not complain if this [alliance] happens."

Mr. Villar, a billionaire property developer, has been placed second in surveys of contenders for the presidential elections.

Mr. Pacquiao, whose boxing victories have made him a national hero, has already said he plans to run for the congressional seat of Sarangani.

His popularity soared even further after he demolished Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto last week to become the only man in history to win seven titles in as many weight classes.

One of Mr. Pacquiao’s political allies, Juan Domingo, said there was an offer by Mrs. Arroyo’s ruling Lakas-Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino-Christian Muslim Democrats for Mr. Pacquiao to join.

However, Lakas has already endorsed a member of an established political clan as its candidate for the Sarangani seat, said Mr. Domingo.

Despite his fame, Mr. Pacquiao lost in his congressional bid in 2007, also to an established politician.

The victory over Mr. Cotto, however, won him even more fame, with Mrs. Arroyo conferring on him on Friday the ceremonial Sikatuna Award -- an honor normally reserved for foreign heads of state.

Wooing militant groups

Meanwhile, Mr. Villar is wooing two militant party-list lawmakers who are reconsidering their decision to join his senatorial slate following the party’s alliance with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) led by Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr.

NP spokesman and former Cavite Rep. Gilbert C. Remulla yesterday said "talks are ongoing through formal and informal channels" with Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza L. Maza and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Saturnino "Satur" C. Ocampo after the NP forged a coalition with KBL last Nov. 20, a move which they claimed they were not consulted.

Ms. Maza said the coalition caused a "serious problem," with both militant lawmakers stressing their position against human rights violations committed during the regime of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the younger Marcos’s namesake.

Mr. Ocampo has said he was also "studying" if he would still join the NP slate and form a coalition following the alliance.

"We are trying to do as much as we can in order to fix [the problem]. Things should be clarified," said Mr. Remulla in a phone interview.

The coalition formalized the inclusion of Mr. Marcos in NP’s senatorial ticket for the May 2010 elections.

"We should be open to all possibilities but we have principles that cannot be set aside," Ms. Maza said in a radio interview yesterday, adding they were only told that Rep. Marcos would be a guest candidate of the NP.

Makabayan, a coalition of Gabriela, Bayan Muna and Anakpawis party-list groups formed last April, was set to declare today their endorsement of Mr. Villar, the NP standard-bearer whose vice-presidential candidate is Senator Loren B. Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

But Ms. Maza admitted this was scuttled as a result of the NP-KBL alliance, and that the group’s decision will be known Thursday at the very least. Ms. Maza and Mr. Ocampo served for three terms in the House of Representatives. -- AFP and B. U. Allauigan