Manny Pacquiao for Philippines president? Boxing icon plays down succeeding Duterte … for now
- Filipino legend harbours ambitions of becoming president but is focusing on Adrien Broner fight
- ‘Pacman’ has been encouraged by Rodrigo Duterte to take up the reins in 2022
Manny Pacquiao has been considered a top contender for the Philippines presidency since he became a member of the senate and talk of him becoming leader of his country has picked up steam again.
The 40-year-old boxer, who remains a hero in his homeland, has even been considered a top contender for the Philippine presidential elections in 2022 by none other than incumbent Rodrigo Duterte, who has announced in the past that he intends to make Pacquiao his successor.
Duterte said during Pacquiao’s 39th birthday bash in 2017 that the Filipino icon would make an ideal president. “I told him when we were alone, I want him to become president,” Duterte said in 2017.
“You have brought so much pride and joy to our country for being the world champion in the field of boxing,” Duterte said of the fighting senator.
Pacquiao, who won a congressional election in May 2010 and has been a senator in the Philippines since May 2016, would make a popular president of the 95 million-strong nation.