Campaign shirts, posters make up for Pacquiao absence

BALIUAG, Bulacan—His caps, shirts and posters make up for his absence.

Rep. Manny Pacquiao AP FILE PHOTO

As absent as he was in Congress, Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has also been missing out on the senatorial campaign trail while training for his April 9 fight with American fighter Timothy Bradley.

Pacquiao has made it only once to the campaign stage of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA)—that was back on Feb. 9, when the opposition party launched its campaign in Mandaluyong City.

Since then, it’s his campaign bus that’s been making the rounds with UNA, carrying his campaign paraphernalia: caps in red, white and blue, orange shirts and a poster bearing photos of his public services outings.

But UNA is least bothered by the absence of its most popular senatorial candidate—the only one so far in the Top 12 of senatorial surveys.

Campaigning on his own

“We understand it. In the first place, when we got the candidates, we told them we will not impose any preconditions. As far as the schedule of Manny is concerned, UNA understands that,” said Binay’s spokesperson, Mon Ilagan.

“Perhaps after his match, hopefully, he can come with us in going around,” the former Cainta mayor said in an interview.

He said Pacquiao was also doing the rounds on his own.

Pacquiao is training for the Bradley bout in Las Vegas, raising calls for him to reconsider another date for the fight.  Critics say the fight would give him an unfair publicity advantage.

He is pushing ahead with the match despite a recent controversy over his remarks describing those involved in homosexual acts as “worse than animals.” It has cost him the Nike endorsement.

Most popular

Pacquiao is arguably UNA’s most popular senatorial aspirant.  He placed eighth among preferred candidates in the latest Social Weather Stations survey, the highest among his party-mates.

Others in the UNA senatorial roster are out of the top 12: Parañaque councilor Alma Moreno, lawyer Allan Montaño, former Special Action Force chief Getulio Napeñas, broadcaster Rey Langit and Princess Jacel Kiram, eldest child of the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.

Guest candidates make up the other half of the UNA roster: Migrant workers’ advocate Susan “Toots” Ople, Sen. Vicente Sotto III, former Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Panfilo Lacson, Richard Gordon and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.