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Run for party-list seat to avoid Sarangani rivals, Pacquiao urged


Supporters and allies of world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao are asking him to drop his plan to run for the congressional seat of Sarangani province in 2010, one of his closest friends said Thursday. Deputy national security adviser Luis “Chavit" Singson said they are expecting Pacquiao to consider suggestions to represent a party-list group where he could secure victory easier than go head-to-head with his political rivals in Sarangani. “Inaasahan naming lahat na ayaw na niyang tumakbo roon (Sarangani). Pakiusap ng buong Pilipinas huwag na lang siyang tumakbo doon… sa halip tumakbo na lang siya sa party-list para maiboto nila. Hindi confrontational yung laban niya; kung doon sa Sarangani, may kalaban siya," Singson said in an interview on dzBB radio. (We are expecting him to give up his plan to run for congressman in Sarangani. The whole nation is asking him to run for party-list representation instead so everyone would vote for him. Also, under a party-list system the political battle is non-confrontational.) The former Ilocos Sur governor, however, clarified that Pacquiao has yet to make up his mind. “Si Manny ang magde-decide hinggil dito. Wala pa siyang desisyon (Manny will decide on that; he has no decision yet)," he said. Singson said the party-list group “1-Pacman" had already applied for accreditation at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) so it could participate in the 2010 elections. Rossie Palacio, a staff of the Comelec’s Office of the Clerk of the Commission (OCC), said they were still organizing their records and could not confirm whether the party-list group had indeed sought accreditation. The deadline for filing of petitions for registration was last Monday, August 17. Singson said that Pacquiao could help contribute more as a party-list representative than as congressman in Sarangani. “He could help the sports sector more," Singson said. Earlier, Environment Secretary Jose “Lito" Atienza, Pacquiao's long-time supporter and father figure, said the international celebrity would do better in the boxing ring than in the political arena. Taste of defeat The pound-for-pound king Pacquiao had already his share of defeat in politics. Ignoring a clamor from his admirers not to go into politics, he ran for a congressional seat in the first district of South Cotabato in2007 and got knocked out by Darlene Antonino-Custodio, who won with a wide margin of 37,000 votes. In an interview with reporters in December 2008, Pacquiao reiterated his desire to enter politics. Apparently to avoid a return bout with Custodio, he said he would run in Sarangani province instead, the hometown of his wife, Jinkee. Like in South Cotabato, however, he would be facing a member of a well-entrenched political clan - the influential Chiongbian family. In Thursday’s interview, Singson hinted that Pacquiao might find it hard to go against his political rivals in Sarangani. “May mga mayor, automatic na nasa kabila ‘yan (There are mayors who would automatically go for Pacquiao’s rivals)," he said. The Chiongbians are known as a political dynasty in Sarangani. The late James L. Chiongbian is considered as the father of the province, having helped pass House Bill 00046 that created Sarangani as a separate province from South Cotabato. - Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV

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