Pacquiao loses House panel chair bid, will head Olympics committee instead

Manny Pacquiao. AFP FILE PHOTO

Talk about being outfought twice.

Fresh from losing to American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the much-awaited “Fight of the Century” last May 2 (US time), Filipino boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao lost another battle for a chairmanship on the committee on migrant workers in the House of Representatives.

The House decided to give the post to AGAP party-list representative Nicanor Briones.

Pacquiao has been the acting chair of the Overseas Filipino Workers Affairs (OFWA) committee following the resignation of Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello last March.

The Sarangani representative reportedly asked House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for the position.

Pacquiao earlier said that he would make significant contributions to the welfare of Filipino migrant workers should he be picked as the committee chair. He earlier supported calls to defer the execution of Indonesian drug convict Mary Jane Veloso.

He is also one of the top absentees in Congress.

House Majority leader Neptali Gonzales II said that instead of being chair of the OFWA commitee, Pacquiao was chosen to lead the special committee on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero in Brazil.

The special panel will have 35 congressmen who are tasked to prepare for the country’s bid in the 2016 Olympics.

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