Philippines presidential race: former boxer Manny Pacquiao enters the ring for 2022
- Pacquiao and President Rodrigo Duterte belong to the same party but the former boxer has accused the leader of being too friendly with China
- Pacquiao trails the front-runners in opinion polls, which have been led consistently by Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio
Pacquiao accepted the nomination of his political allies during the national assembly of the faction he leads in the ruling PDP-Laban Party, days after a rival faction nominated Duterte’s long-time aide, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, as its presidential candidate.
That faction nominated Duterte for vice-president, a move that critics called a cynical ploy by Duterte to retain power.
Go declined the nomination, but the rift between the Pacquiao and Duterte factions has escalated.
“I am a fighter, and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring,” Pacquiao, 42, a senator, said in a live-streamed speech during the assembly. “I am accepting your nomination as candidate for president of the Republic of the Philippines.”
One of the greatest boxers of all time and the only man to hold world titles in eight different divisions, Pacquiao did not make further mention of his 26-year professional career.
Instead, he asked: “For those asking what are my qualifications, have you ever experienced hunger? Have you ever experienced having nothing to eat, to borrow money from your neighbours or to wait for leftovers at a food stall? The Manny Pacquiao that is in front of you was moulded by poverty.”
Pacquiao, once a close ally of Duterte, has said more than 10 billion pesos (US$200 million) in pandemic aid intended for poor families was unaccounted for, adding this was just one discovery in his planned corruption investigation.
His anti-corruption crusade has gathered steam as the Senate opened an investigation into alleged overpricing of medical supplies and equipment bought under the government’s pandemic response programme.
Sara Duterte’s momentum builds as Bong Go declines nomination
Duterte challenged Pacquiao to name corrupt government offices to prove that the boxer was not just politicking ahead of the election.
Pacquiao countered by warning of jail for corrupt government officials: “Your time is up!”
The nomination of two candidates for president from PDP-Laban showed “how deep the divisions in the ruling party are”, Eurasia Group analyst Peter Mumford said.
“A key watchpoint will be whether most of the anti-Duterte camp falls in behind Pacquiao or whether it splits with multiple different presidential candidates,” Mumford said. “The former would complicate Duterte’s succession plans by making victory for the eventual Duterte-backed candidate less assured.”
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
