POLITICIAN MANNY IS ALSO WELL-ACCOMPLISHED OUTSIDE THE RING
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 30 Apr 2016
The first thing to establish with Manny Pacquiao, who earns a living by beating his opponents black and blue atop the ring, is not that there is one but that there's only one.
Boxing's eight-division champion is one of a kind. You'll never see a prizefighter like him. Even the mild-mannered Jack Dempsey bragged a little once in-a-while. Legendary Joe Louis, too.
Not the Filipino three-time 'Fighter of the Year' and "Fighter of the Decade,' a lineal belt-owner in four weight divisions. He never talks louder than a whisper. He always says things softly.
Boxers aren't supposed to be like him. Pugs are supposed to say, "I'll kill that bum." Or Muhammad Ali calling Sonny Liston "the Big Ol' Ugly Bear." Or Liston himself telling an opponent,"If he runs, I'll cripple him." Louis one said, "He can run, but he can't hide."
The 37-year-old Kibawe, Bukidnon-born, now a Congressman representing Sarangani Province in the Lower House, is seeking a Senate seat in the coming general elections next month and quite a few have questioned his qualifications to be a member of the Upper Chamber. He is only a boxer, poor and uneducated, they said, among other things.
His detractors had a feast day belittling his performance as a lawmaker, who only attended four session days last year.
Conveniently forgetting that in practicing his calling he had to fight two or even three times a year and had to train in between in service, too, for the country.
The former pound-for-pound king, as usual, merely shrugged off all this though saying, "Let them say what they want. As a congressman, my main responsibility is to my constituents, the people of Sarangani na siya ko namang dapat paglingkuran sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay sa kanila ng lahat ng kanilang pangangailangan."
"And I believe that since they elected me for the first time in 2010, hindi ako nagkulang sa aking mga nasasakupan. Sila na ang magsasabi kung ano ang mga nagawa ko sa kanila," he explained. "If they say that I have done nothing to help them with their needs, I myself would not be seeking another term, or, for that matter, seek a higher position in government."
It wasn't even Pacquiao, but his wife, Sarangani Vice Gov. Jinkee, who rattled to this writer some of the numerous programs and projects her husband had started and completed in the six years of his term as congressman.
And, Jinkee clarified though that funding of all those projects came from Manny's pocket. Hindi siya umasa sa perang galing sa gobiyernoi. Never had he availed of PDAP or DAP," she assured.
Top in the list of Paquiao's priorities is providing jobs to the jobless residents of the province, food on their tables, roofs on their heads and other basic needs such as water, infrastructure, electricity and most importantly, peace, order and safety.
As of this date, according to Jinkee, more than 400 families and residents of Sarangani and General Santos City representing the poorest of the poor have availed of the house and lots for free provided by Pacquiao's housing project. More are being constructed.
Downtrodden fishermen and farmers, who, before, couldn't ply their trade are being given motor boats and farm equipment they are now using under the program initiated by the Emmanuel and Jinkee Foundation precisely to give the folks means to earn a living.
The father of their five children, Jinkee continued, has injected more than P4B in infrastructure projects in the province intended for road widening, bridges, farm-to-market roads, streetlight and flood control facilities. This is apart from the P21.6M streetlight project that lighted the erstwhile dark thoroughfares in Sarangani and General Santos City.
Construction of the 200-bed state-of-the-art Sarangani Medical Center is still going on and when completed will be the first of its kind in the province.
Congressman Pacquiao's magnimity is not confined to his constituents though. In his recent visit to Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates, the fighting lawmaker donated US $50,000 to the Cancer Patient Care Society by way of helping the said organization in pursuing its noble undertakings.
This is beside the assistance amounting to billions of pesos he has been extending to persons afflicted with different illnesses even before entering government service.
Upon returning home from a fight in Macau in 2013, Pacquiao flew direct to Leyte and Eastern Samar and shelled out P10M worth of relief goods to victims of super typhoon Yolanda. A year earlier, he, too, appropriated P6M as donation to victims of typhoon Pablo.
"My husband a do-nothing Congressman? Hindi ah!" Jinkee exclaimed, adding that Congressman and senator-to-be Pacquiao has principally authored 20 bills besides being co-author of 70 other bills, including amendments to the Robert Jaworski-authored Rep. Act 9064, otherwise known as the "Athletes Coaches and Trainers Benefits and Incentives Act of 2001" or "Sports Benefits and Incentives Act of 2001" and the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2012.
"Manny might have absented himself in sessions but that's because of his profession as a fighter. But he more than makes up for that by bringing honors and respect to the country," Jinkee pointed out.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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