Word: pacquiao
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Breaking that stranglehold will take more than just popularity and money, both of which Pacquiao has by the truckload. On March 26, upon his return from the Clottey fight, he was mobbed by media and jubilant fans at the airport, before being driven in a bulletproof Chevrolet Tahoe guarded by armed police to Sarangani. Roughly the size of Rhode Island, Sarangani (pop. 411,713) is a coastal province where people scrape a living from fishing or farming. Pacquiao grew up in the province's sleepy town of Kiamba, and with one eye on the congressional campaign built a house there...
...launched his campaign by celebrating his 61st birthday at his family's 2,718-acre (1,100 hectare) plantation near Kiamba. "Tiger Woods is the No. 1 golfer, but he can't be, let's say, a race-car driver. We have our limitations and our skills." He believes Pacquiao's popularity plays against him: many voters don't want their national hero dirtying his hands in politics. "People like to see him as a boxer, not a politician," says Chiongbian, who has never run for public office before...
Still, "Sir Manny" - as his staff reverentially call him - is a more formidable opponent than Chiongbian will ever admit. Pacquiao is approaching round two of his political career with at least some of the searing focus he usually reserves for the boxing ring. "Last time, I wasn't prepared," he tells TIME, as he tours his would-be constituency. "I was very confident [because] I was famous. This time I'm ready." And confident. Asked if he's going to win, he flashes his delinquent smile. "Landslide," he says...
That might be pushing it, but Pacquiao promises a slicker campaign this time. "I've already established my [political] machinery," he says. "It's like a car. It's fixed already. You just have to get in and drive it." He has the support of tycoon Senator Manny Villar, a presidential candidate, who joined him on his Sarangani homecoming. On the campaign trail, Pacquiao has fewer bodyguards separating him from adoring fans and voters. Warming up crowds on the campaign trail are his wife Jinkee and mother Dionisia, a.k.a. "Pac-Mom," both household names in the Philippines who were largely...
...while he is no Ali, Pacquiao is an effective speaker, telling crowds about his family's struggle with poverty in an intimate, conversational style. "No notes," he explains. "You speak from deep in your heart. It's easy." Pacquiao is also devout, which could win the support of bloc-voting church groups. "The most important thing as a leader is your relationship with God," he tells the crowd while campaigning in Kiamba, where many people wear T-shirts bearing the boxer's face and the slogan, in English, "For God and Country...