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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider His next fight 

His next fight 

Published Aug 26, 2021 12:02 am

MEDIUM RARE

Jullie Y. Daza

To retire or not to retire from the square ring of boxing? That sounds like the question of the day being bandied about by analysts, while another batch of curiosity seekers wonder if Manny Pacquiao should throw his hat in the three-ring circus of the coming elections.

The Champ may not be the man of the hour for now, but betcha by golly wow, he’ll be the man of the season as soon as he returns from the US, the warrior home from the war. So will he join the race for president and exact sweet revenge from the party that all but expelled him while he was away and they could not face him?

It’s been months since the last survey gave Pacquiao 6 points or thereabouts, behind Sara Duterte, Bongbong Marcos, and Isko Moreno with their double-digit scores. It should be interesting to see how the “Pambansang Kamao” will fare in the next surveys, after that painful-to-watch “entertainment” in Las Vegas. Unwilling to wait for such a survey, I did a little one of my own, on my own, just for fun, of adults who follow the news on paper, on the air, on their screens and by the grapevine.

Their answers were out of the box, as expected. The one and only astrologer included in the survey refused to reply without being shown a copy of Manny’s birth certificate. (Sans his time and date of birth, the astrology would be mere guesswork.)

MJ said no to Pacquiao, his candidate being a “woman who can outpunch Pacquiao,” and with that he sent a video of Mayor Sara boxing the sheriff like a punching bag for tearing down a house in spite of her orders. Another nay-sayer could not see Manny’s disappointed fans  sending him onward and forward to Malacañang. BR worried about the senator’s attention span outside the ring. Two guys responded by asking, “Can the people’s idol hack it?”, implying no, he can’t.  

The sole yes came from an ex-technocrat: “Manny’s a diamond in the rough; with a little polishing he’ll shine.”

Mr. and Mrs. EP were not included in this poll – I know their yes will fill up this entire space. I’ll keep their answers until the Champ comes home.

 

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