Word: pacquiao
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...Pacquiao's main pitch to voters has remained unchanged since 2007: I understand the poor man's woes, while my opponent is aloof and élite. Roy Chiongbian doesn't claim to have the Almighty on his side, but then perhaps he doesn't need him so much. Sarangani is a family affair. The province's borders were drawn in 1992 by Chiongbian's late father; his mother was its first governor. The current congressman is his brother and the vice-governor his nephew. Incumbents have a natural advantage over challengers, since they have had years - in the Chiongbian family...
Legendary American trainer Freddie Roach is credited with turning Pacquiao from a promising boxer into a world champion. It's unclear if he has a political Roach, or if the ferociously single-minded Pacquiao would listen anyway. "I advised him not to run," says Luis Singson, political kingpin of the northern province of Ilocos Sur, who gave Pacquiao the bulletproof Hummer that ferries him around Manila and who shares his passion for cockfighting and gambling. "I told him, 'Give priority to your boxing. Later on you can go into politics.' But he's committed already." What are his chances...
...only advice Pacquiao has ignored. His first love is boxing, but cockfighting and high-stakes gambling - preferably both at the same time - come a close second. Singson warns that gambling will drain Pacquiao's fortune and besmirch his populist image. "I told him, 'People look at you as their idol. It's bad if they see you gambling.' So now he's stopped [going to] casinos already." Really? Less than two days after his homecoming, the boxer could be spotted playing Texas Hold'em at a windowless poker joint in Manila in the small hours. Peering protectively through nearby...
Running for Congress is a gamble with much higher stakes. Sarangani might be a small district, but political analyst de Vera estimates Pacquiao will have to spend up to $2 million "to stand a chance of winning." That's nothing by the standards of U.S. elections, but a fortune in a rural backwater with only about 270,000 registered voters. Eric Pineda, one of the boxer's bewildering array of advisers, calls $2 million a "paltry" sum. Another adviser, Jeng Gacal, says "the sky's the limit" when it comes to election spending...
...most Pac-Man fans the world over, the battle for Sarangani is a distant sideshow. The opponent that everyone really wants Pacquiao to fight is undefeated American welterweight Floyd Mayweather Jr. But first a deal must be sealed - the boxers could split $50 million, or the biggest purse in boxing history - and Mayweather must fight his compatriot Shane Mosley on May 1. Will Pacquiao take a break from his last hectic week of campaigning to watch the fight...