Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao is set to run for the presidency in the Philippines next year after accepting the nomination of his political allies during the national assembly of the faction he leads in the ruling PDP-Laban Party.
This announcement came after a rival faction nominated President Rodrigo Duterte’s long-time aide, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, as its presidential candidate. And since Duterte has been banned by the constitution from running for a second six-year term as president, he was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate by the faction instead.
This was, however, met by the disapproval of some as they believe that this move was done just so that Duterte could retain power.
Falling Out Between Pacquiao and Duterte’s Camp
As of now, Pacquiao’s faction has not shown any form of support for Duterte’s bid for vice president.
While Pacquiao was a close ally of Duterte previously, this relationship soured after Pacquiao openly challenged him regarding his position on China and his fight against corruption. Pacquiao also pointed out that he has a corruption investigation going on, and revealed that a huge sum of money that was allocated for poor families as a form of pandemic aid has been unaccounted for.
Duterte retaliated by claiming that this was all just Pacquiao’s attempt at campaigning and promoting himself. He challenged Pacquiao to name corrupt government offices if he truly was engaging in the investigation.
To this, Pacquiao responded by telling all the corrupt government officials that a jail term is awaiting them and that their “time is up”.
Unfortunately, weeks later in July, Pacquiao was voted out as the leader of the PDP-Laban party, but his stance on anti-corruption has sparked an investigation by the Senate into the alleged overpricing of medical supplies and equipment that were bought under the government’s pandemic response scheme.
He Will Continue to Fight, As Always
During the live stream of his nomination acceptance speech, Pacquiao expressed that he has never backed down from any fight, implying that he wouldn’t do it now either. In fact, he also said, “I’m a fighter, and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring.”
Despite being one of the greatest boxers of all time and the only man to hold world titles in eight different divisions, Pacquiao did not talk much about his professional 26-year boxing career.
While Pacquiao remains popular, he lags behind the front runners of opinion polls with Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, topping all of them.
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Featured Image: Instagram (mannypacquiao)
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