Boxer Manny Pacquiao has won a Senate seat in the last elections in the Philippines, where he has attracted both the unconditional support of many of his compatriots and criticism for his lack of preparation.
Manny Pacquiao, who has won these elections with more than 15 million votes, went down in boxing history by being world champion in eight different categories, which made him one of the national heroes of the Philippines.
It is one of the icons of overcoming the country; The extreme poverty in which he grew up is known to all and that he ran away from home at the age of 12 after his drunken father ate his pet dog.
After triumphing in the world of boxing, the fighter obtained his first public position in 2010, when he ran for the post of congressman representing the province of Sarangani, in the southern Philippines, and overwhelmed his rival, taking more than 66 percent of the votes.
Since then, the boxer has been consolidating his role as a politician, which he says he adopted to give a voice to the poorest Filipinos and defend their rights.
“I want to serve from the heart, serve the poor, provide service free from corruption,” he said during his election campaign.
However, Pacquiao has many detractors, especially among Filipinos with a medium-high socio-cultural level, who do not doubt his good intentions, but that he has enough knowledge to occupy one of the 24 seats in the Senate.
“You could say that Manny Pacquiao is the best athlete in the history of the Philippines. And therein lies the problem, that he is an athlete, he is not a lawyer, he is not a legislator, “says one of the columnists of the Manila Bulletin newspaper, Andrew James Masigan.
“In the Senate, (Pacquiao) is going to become the national ‘laughingstock.’ The adulation that we all feel for him is going to turn into mockery, and respect into resentment, “he adds.
Critics of the popular boxer also do not consider Pacquiao a good representative of the Filipino people for incidents like the one he starred in last February, when he claimed that homosexuals are “worse than animals.”
Although he publicly apologized and said that his intention was not to offend anyone, Pacquiao had shown his intolerance towards the LGBT sector (Lesbians, gays, transsexuals and bisexuals).
“Pacquiao should realize that to be a senator for all Filipinos, you have to educate yourself on the need to protect the rights of the most disadvantaged sectors,” the Philippine human rights organization GABRIELA said in response to the boxer’s comment.
His numerous absences in recent years in the sessions of Congress have been another of his most criticized aspects, since for many it is a sign that Pacquiao is not committed to his role as representative of the Filipino people.
From 2010 to 2013, of the 168 sessions of the legislative chamber, he was absent 70 times, which made him the member of Congress with the highest number of absences.
Pacquiao, who in addition to being a boxer and politician has described himself as a singer, actor, and basketball player and coach, has also failed to get any of the bills he has introduced since 2010 passed.
However, “Pacman”, as he is popularly known, responded to these criticisms by announcing that he would retire from boxing after one last fight, which took place last April, and assured that he will dedicate himself exclusively to politics.
I’ll put the rest of the business aside. If you are a senator, you have to focus only on your job and your family, “Pacquiao told the media.
“I am not going to miss (the Senate) because the entire country would be my responsibility,” he added. EFE
Manny Pacquiao, the controversial new senator from the Philippines
