Pacquiao vs Duterte for president: a title bout the Philippines can’t stop watching

Manny Pacquiao has taken years to position himself as a viable candidate in the chaotic world of Philippine politics

Now he is exchanging blows with party mate Rodrigo Duterte, whose political future may well extend beyond next year’s election

Reading Time:5 minutes

Manny Pacquiao in training for his upcoming bout against Errol Spence. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30am, 11 Jul 2021Updated: 9:30am, 11 Jul 2021

Eight years ago, world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao set his sights on a goal outside the ring: the Philippine presidency. Little did he know that in President Rodrigo Duterte, he would face his toughest opponent yet.

He couldn’t do it immediately; he was in his mid-30s at the time, and the country’s constitution specifies that presidential candidates must be at least 40 years old on election day. So he took his time, preparing for the upcoming political battle as methodically as he had for his 71 career bouts.

Pacquiao first flirted with public office in 2007, but his run for Congress in the province of South Cotabato was stopped in its tracks by Darlene Antonino-Custodio, who graciously said Filipinos were not prepared to lose their boxing icon to the country’s chaotic politics.

Instead of swearing off politics, he studied the landscape and bought a farm in his wife’s home province of Sarangani, which qualified him to run for that congressional district. After a resounding victory in 2010 – by which time Pacquiao had formed his own party, the People’s Champ Movement – he funded a full slate of candidates in the province, from governor to legislative council. He also fulfilled his campaign promise to build the first hospital in Sarangani, using government money promised by then president Benigno Aquino III.

Fresh from victory, Pacquiao took a 10-day governance course at the Development Academy of the Philippines, and asked Ilocos Sur provincial governor Luis “Chavit” Singson – the prominent political warlord who helped bring down Joseph Estrada’s presidency in 2001 with his damning court testimony the previous year – to teach him “political boxing”.

Duterte’s aides have suggested that the president – who is constitutionally restricted to a term of six years – could still run for the post of vice-president next year, and choose his running mate. Photo: Reuters

Basking in the glow of becoming Pacquiao’s guru, Singson in June 2010 told local media that among the lessons he had imparted to the political neophyte were “have discipline”, “have a killer instinct”, “don’t talk too much” and “do what you are saying”.