Pacquiao starts discussing housing for poor right after 10-day quarantine

Eight-division boxing champ-turned-politician Sen. Manny Pacquiao at the Senate floor on March 23, 2020. (File photo by HENZBERG AUSTRIA / Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Manny Pacquiao hit the ground running after his 10-day quarantine, which he went through starting last Aug. 30 on his arrival from the US. He immediately joined a Zoom meeting with stakeholders to discuss his plan of providing housing for the poor.

“I know what it’s like [to be poor]. I had tried sleeping with just cardboard covering wherever I would lay down. And I believe that an orderly society begins in an orderly home,” he said in Filipino.

[Original statement: “Alam ko yan dahil nasubukan kong matulog na karton lang ang sapin sa higaan at naniniwala ako na ang maayos na lipunan at nagsisimula sa maayos na tahanan.”]

The lawmaker told his constituents that he would focus on providing free housing for informal settlers and the poor as a flagship program should he decide to seek higher public office.

Pacquiao had earlier said he still had to make up his mind on whether to quit boxing or to pursue his political career.

But the warm welcome accorded to him by thousands of supporters amid stormy weather when he emerged from mandatory quarantine in a hotel in Pasay City might well convince him to seek the presidency in 2022.

Thousands more followed the Pacbus, the vehicle that he rode from the hotel to his residence in Makati where would spend a few more days of self-imposed quarantine.

Pacquiao has indicated that he would make a decision before October when the filing of certificates of candidacy for national positions starts.

If he decides to enter the presidential race, he is expected to capitalize on his popularity as an eight-division boxing champion who rose from abject poverty in General Santos City.

The boxing champ turned lawmaker has started to veer away from his former image as an ardent supporter of the Duterte administration and started to question its stand on the West Philippine Sea issue, which he described as “lacking.”

More recently, Pacquiao also began to take a strong stand against corruption, calling into question alleged irregularities in the distribution of cash assistance, or ayuda, to poor families affected by lockdowns imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

—CONTRIBUTED

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