Filipino and world boxing icon Manny “Pacman” is on leave as a member of the House of Representatives and is now in the US for a promotional tour of his upcoming fight with a Mexican brawler, the House speaker has confirmed.
But Speaker Feliciano Belmonte pointed out that despite his absence, Pacquiao is still entitled to his salary and allowances as the duly-elected congressman of Sarangani in Mindanao, one of the country’s 20 poorest provinces.
Belmonte added Pacquiao sought his permission last week to go to the US for a three-city promotional and press tour for his fight for the vacant welterweight title of the World Boxing Organization with Antonio Margarito of Mexico on November 13.
If he wins, this would be Pacquiao’s unprecedented eighth world boxing championship belt, the first ever for a pugilist anywhere in the world, and would also stamp his standing as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter today.
“It’s a terrific thing and I don’t think anybody will ever blame Manny for being absent,” Belmonte said. “But still, insofar as the record of the House is concerned, he was marked absent.”
“Anyway, he is doing a great service to the House and to the country,” Belmonte added, apparently referring to the shattered image that the Philippines has suffered following the botched police rescue attempt that resulted in the killing of eight Hong Kong tourists and their hostage-taker in Manila on August 23.
He disclosed Pacquiao is to leave again later in September for the US where he will train for his championship bout with Margarito at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas on November 13.
Pacquiao earlier expressed his intention of training inside the sprawling House of Representatives complex in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila but this was rejected by Belmonte.
The speaker said he would fly to the US witness the fight but stressed he would pay for the plane fare and other expenses from his own pocket.
House records show that Pacquiao, a freshman lawmaker, is the vice chairman of the House Committee on Youth and Sports and the Committee on Millenium Development Goals, chaired by Congresswoman Imelda Marcos of Ilocos Norte province in Northern Luzon, the widow of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
He is also a member of eight other committees, including national defense and security as well as public information.
In 2009, Pacquiao landed sixth among the world’s richest sportsmen with earnings totaling $40 million. This is on top of the huge fees he receives from endorsing products in the Philippines and the US.
In his upcoming fight with Margarito, Pacquiao is reportedly getting a guaranteed purse of $15 million, aside from share in the lucrative pay-per-view TV rights.
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This is going to be a pretty good fight, malaki lang talaga si Margarito, pero of course, Pacquiao and Roach have proven that they can get into the target no matter what..