MANILA – Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao made known his choice who to support among the presidential candidates in the coming May 2010 elections at dawn on Friday.
During his well-attended birthday bash in General Santos City, Mindanao which started Thursday up to early morning Friday, Pacquiao announced he was supporting Senator Manuel Villar, a billionaire businessman and the standard bearer of the Nacionalista (Nationalist) Party.
He introduced Villar, who was present in the celebration, to his other guests as the “upcoming president of the Philippines.”
An NP spokesman disclosed that at about 2 am Friday while the celebration was still going on, Pacquiao took his oath before Villar as a member of the party.
With the oath-taking, Pacquiao also became the NP official candidate for the lone congressional seat of the neighboring province of Sarangani, also in Mindanao, the spokesman said.
But even as an NP member, Pacquiao pointed out he would still be the candidate of the regional political party he has founded, People’s Champ Movement (PCM).
The PCM has been recognized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as a regional political party which is empowered to field local candidates in next year’s polls. PCM stands for “people’s champ,” for which Pacquiao is more popularly known among the millions of Filipinos who idolize him.
Pacquiao, acknowledged by boxing experts as the “world’s best pound for pound fighter” today, explained he decided to support Villar because of his “pro-poor image.”
Villar is touted by his handlers as the “poor boy who made good” and became a billionaire-businessman through real estate investments, including housing for the poor as well posh private housing estates for the rich.
Pacquiao’s affiliation with the Villar camp caught by surprise officials of the ruling Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats who have been counting on the boxer’s support for the candidacy of their presidential candidate former defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro.
Before his surprise announcement, Pacquiao has been identified with the administration because of his ties with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But how Pacquiao’s support could translate into additional votes for Villar is being questioned, however, by supporters of the other presidential candidates.
For instance, leaders of Senator Benigno Aquino 3rd, the only son of the late global democracy icon president Corazon Aquino and the official candidate of the Liberal Party (LP), pointed out that their bet has consistently been topping the surveys conducted by polling organizations.
They cited the findings of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in early November in which 59 percent of the 1,600 respondents nationwide said they would vote for Aquino. Villar came in second with about 20 percent.
Other political camps cited another SWS survey in which the support of politicians and influential personalities could mean a “kiss of death.” for candidates in the May 2010 elections.
The respondents, according to the survey, said they would not vote for candidates endorsed by President Arroyo, Pacquiao, TV host Willie Revillame as well as actress and TV host, Kris Aquino, the sister of Aquino, in that order.
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