Pacquiao: Video of ‘transfer’ wasn’t supposed to be shown

MANILA, Philippines – Apparently, it was a statement and video that weren’t supposed to be released at all. Manny Pacquiao on Monday clarified that he did not give his go-signal for ABS-CBN to air his footage announcing his controversial decision to rescind his live contract with Solar Entertainment Corp. to hook up with the network. In a phone patch from LA, the boxing superstar claimed he only agreed to do the video for ABS-CBN and issue the statement of transfer on condition they would only be made public if he were to find contractual violations on the part of Solar. But the thing is: he didn’t see any. “Ang usapan kasi namin ng ABS ay huwag muna tayo maggawa ng footage o video. Susuriin ko muna ang kontrata ng Solar kung may breach of contract at saka tayo maglabas ng ganoong videos. And then sabi nila sa akin na itatago muna namin, hindi namin ipapalabas, gawin mo na lang ito, sasabihin namin pag papalabas na, kaya ginawa namin," he narrated via a special teleconference. An exclusive video of Pacquiao’s latest interview was shown on GMA 7. As it turned out, Pacquiao found nothing that will merit the rescinding of his contract with Solar. “Wala namang nakitang breach of contract at wala namang kasalanan, wala namang nilabag ang Solar so dapat hindi maipalabas ang video na iyon na hindi naman karapat-dapat.," he said. The recorded video was shown on ABS-CBN last Wednesday, drawing protests from Solar, which reiterated its legal rights to air Pacquiao’s fights. The contract of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions and Solar is still good up to May 6, 2011, which covers the May 2 title fight with Ricky Hatton. In a letter to Solar, Pacquiao had cited the company’s “failure to fulfill its financial obligations." Solar officials had denied such allegation and maintained all financial matters have been settled. Pacquiao bared that it was ABS-CBN itself that prepared the contents of what he said on the video. “Yung statement na iyon actually hindi naman ako ang gumawa nun, ang gumawa nun mga abogado rin ng ABS. Sila ang nagturo sa akin, ah, sila ang may idea nun na gawin ko ang sasabihin ko," he disclosed. Pacquiao eventually retracted the controversial video and statement he made on ABS-CBN after meeting personally with Solar executives over the weekend. ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., in an earlier statement, said it would respect Pacquiao’s decision to stick it out with Solar and change his mind about his planned transfer. "Manny Pacquiao approached ABS-CBN to be his media partner in airing his next fights. We thank him for trusting us. He signed a contract with us, but we will not stand in the way if he decides to change his mind," ABS-CBN said. "We respect it, wish him good luck and we wait to hear from him." In the meantime, Pacquiao asked ABS-CBN to refrain from airing the said "transfer" video. “Ang pinagbasehan lang doon (video) ay breach of contract, pero wala namang naganap at siguro mali yung naging desisyon ko nun na padalos-dalos ako. Pero ako naman ay talagang umaamin na nagkamali dun sa ginawa ko. Pero sana ay itigil na natin yung pagpapalabas sa video na yun," the world’s top pound for pound fighter said. Solar officials were shocked by this new revelation from Pacquiao. “These come as a shock to us," said Solar chairman William Tieng. Tieng refused to give further comments on ABS-CBN’s alleged actions but said “we’ll study our options." Pacquiao cleared the air during a press conference attended by Solar officials Tieng and chief operating officer Peter ChanLiong and GMA Network, Inc. chairman, president and chief executive officer Felipe Gozon and executive vice president and COO Gilberto Duavit Jr. During the same press con, Pacquiao apologized to everyone who was confused and inconvenienced by his actions, including his legions of fans, and vowed to fully concentrate on his training for the Hatton. The Pac Man and Hatton are slated to slug it out on May 2 in Las Vegas, with the fight to be aired locally on Solar and GMA in the morning of May 3. –Olmin R. Leyba, GMANews.TV