Thursday, February 15, 2007 Editorial: Pacquiao's decision
FOR all the flak he's been receiving for deciding to run for Congress in the first district of Cotabato province, one has to credit people's champion Manny Pacquiao for his gumption and willingness to face the heat even when it's his backers that should receive the onus of the blame for egging him to run in the first place.
Hopefully Pacquiao isn't using his money to run for public office or worse, that his so-called "backers and allies" aren't greedily dipping their hands into his coffers to augment their own campaign funds.
Whatever the outcome of his decision to run, Pacquiao should not allow himself to be used by those who only want to make money and exploit him for their own greedy ends, if they haven't done that already.
If there's something positive out of this, it's that Pacquiao's helping people realize that popularity is not the determinant in selecting people to public office.
That is, if one were to listen to the disappointment of thousands of people who voiced their opposition to his Congress bid in TV interviews.
His main rival for Congress, Cotabato First Dist. Representative Darlene Custodio, was smart enough not to belittle him but rather emphasized that the people are wise enough to know who they would vote for come May 14.
The united opposition had accused the Arroyo administration of using Pacquiao and others to derail the re-election and Senate bids of lawmakers who voted to impeach President Arroyo twice over the past two years.
The way the Arroyo administration had been raiding the ranks of politicians gives credence to their arguments amid the vocal denials of the Palace officials. And it's pathetic that Pacquiao allowed himself to fall right under the machinations of these administration officials.
If Pacquiao were to win, then may God have mercy on us all by guiding him towards making the right decisions and steering away from the path of corruption and opportunism being fostered on him by his "backers."
Should he lose, may his defeat provide a lesson for all athletes, actors and other celebrities not to use public office as a means to salvage their sinking stars and earn prestige, even more obscene amounts of money while giving the Filipino nothing but their silence or worse, their connivance with the powers that be.
