Boxing champ goes into political ring

SAN MIGUEL - The pounding beat of Eye of the Tiger from Rocky III blasted from speakers as Manny Pacquiao's black Hummer pulled up at an open-air basketball court on a humid evening.

The world welterweight boxing champion, seeking a seat in the Philippine Congress, waved to hundreds of cheering fans as he emerged from the vehicle in jeans and a blue vest bearing the name of his political party, the People's Champ Movement.

His earlier life as a poor labourer and baker just a distant memory, the world's best pound-for-pound boxer, and one of the wealthiest men in his impoverished homeland, is now trying to translate his enormous appeal into votes in the May 10 election.

"I don't want to be just your boxing idol," he told the crowd from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck.

"I also want be your idol in public service."

If successful, Pacquiao would join other Filipino celebrities and former athletes who have won seats in Congress in the past two decades, a departure from the past when the legislature used to be the exclusive domain of powerful landed dynasties and clans.

Some celebrity candidates have been the butt of jokes for their inability to craft complex policies and engage in debates.

Movie star Joseph Estrada, a college dropout, was ridiculed after winning the presidency in 1998 and forced out over corruption allegations in 2001.

He is back as a long-shot candidate for President.

Pacquiao, who lost a congressional race in 2007, faces an uphill battle against an opponent from an entrenched political family, said political analyst Ramon Casiple.

Voters look for a record of service and don't vote on popularity alone, he added.

The 31-year-old boxer known to his fans as "Pacman", the holder of seven world boxing titles, has added to his fame - and riches - since then.

He made at least US$12 million ($16.6 million) in his latest win over Joshua Clottey in March, after pocketing US$30 million for beating Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 and Ricky Hatton in 2009, according to Forbes magazine, which lists him as one of the world's richest athletes.

Pacquiao also has a side career as a singer, and his smiling face adorns ads for dandruff shampoo, food products and Nike shoes.

"I could just sit back and relax and not have anything to do with politics. I could just travel around and enjoy my life with my family," Pacquiao told the crowd in San Miguel, a corn-farming village.

"But I came from a poor family, and I cannot turn my back on the poor."

He spoke of how he slept in the street as a child. When there wasn't enough money for rice, his family ate coconuts and bananas.

He dropped out of school to earn money and focus on boxing and passed a high school equivalency test only in 2007.

The boxing champ said he can relate to the populace in a country where a third of the people live on US$1 a day and 3000 Filipinos leave for jobs abroad every day.

He describes his platform as "very simple, very basic" - giving small boats to fishermen and financial support to neighbourhood stores so people can build livelihoods, plus offering free education and medical care to the poor.

His opponent, Roy Chiongbian, who comes from a politically powerful and wealthy family, questions whether Pacquiao has the experience to be a legislator.

"If a person looks at him as a world boxing champion, then I don't have any problem," he said.

"But if a person looks at him as a politician, then I do have a problem."

- AP