We are 110 percent behind Pacquiao–UNA
Manny Pacquiao at the Makati City Hall for a courtesy call with Mayor Jun Binay and VP Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay is “110 percent” behind its senatorial candidate Manny Pacquiao despite an election official’s warning that the world boxing champion could be disqualified from May’s national elections if he goes ahead with his fight against Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on April 9.
“All the fights that Congressman Pacquiao faces, UNA [supports] him 110 percent and we are confident he will be able to answer and face all of these,” Rico Quicho, a spokesperson for Binay, told reporters on Monday.
Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon warned Pacquiao on Sunday that the showing of his fight against Bradley on television in the Philippines would give him publicity in excess of the limits set by the Fair Election Act.
‘Just statements’
“He can, of course, box. That is his privilege. But if he shows his boxing match (on television) here, in my opinion, it will have consequences on his candidacy,” Guanzon said.
READ: Poll exec warns Pacquiao
Quicho said Guanzon’s statements were just statements and it was best to wait for the official statement from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, who is also running for a Senate seat in the May 9 elections, has asked the Comelec to compel Pacquiao to postpone the fight so that the champ would not get publicity beyond the limits allowed by law.
Pacquiao has said he is willing to postpone the fight if it would really violate election rules, but he is proceeding with his training for the bout.
2007 fight
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the commission would take up Bello’s petition today.
Jimenez said the Comelec was studying whether its decision to impose a partial restriction on the showing of a Pacquiao fight in South Cotabato in 2007, when the champion was running for the House of Representatives, could be applied to his fight against Bradley in April.
Jimenez was referring to Pacquiao’s fight against Mexican boxer Jorge Solis on April 14, 2007, which was also held a month before the elections.
Pacquiao at the time was challenging Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio for the seat of South Cotabato’s first district in the House.
The Comelec allowed the showing of Pacquiao’s prefight sparring sessions and the actual bout in South Cotabato, but prohibited the showing of full prefight sessions and documentaries before the actual fight.
The Comelec explained at the time that it could not impose a total blackout on the bout because Pacquiao was a person “of national interest.”
“But remember, that time Pacquiao was running for a lower elective post different circumstances might have different solutions,” Jimenez told reporters on Monday.
“[That] was 2007 and the circumstances were different, so it does not necessarily bind the commission. And this commission will have to come up with its own set of rules and justification for how it will treat this new case,” he said.
Who is promoting the fight and where it will be held are among the factors that the Comelec will consider in making a decision, Jimenez said.
Last week, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Philippine election laws could not be applied to the Pacquiao-Bradley fight because it would be held in Las Vegas.
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