Saturday, December 05, 2009
Manny Pacquiao shows off candidate registration (photo: Philippine Star)
Next year’s congressional elections in the Philippines will not lack for star power. Manny Pacquiao, the first boxer to win world championships in seven different weight divisions, intends to run again for Congress from the southern province of Sarangani, his wife’s hometown on Mindanao Island. Pacquiao lost his bid for Congress in 2007 in a different district. Pacquiao’s political party is called the Peoples’ Champ Movement.
Also running for Congress again is former first lady Imelda Marcos, 80, the widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who fled the country in the 1980s. Imelda Marcos returned to the Philippines in 1991, and despite her excessive lifestyle, won a seat in Congress in 1995. She served three years, and later was succeeded by her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. With Marcos Jr. running for the senate, the family matriarch is seeking to claim her son’s seat in the northern Illocos Norte constituency, a Marcos stronghold. Marcos’ daughter, Imee, will be running for governor.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Pacman, Imelda File House Bids (by Rose Tamayo-Tesoro, Philippine Star)
Imelda Marcos to Run for President in Philippines (by Hrvoje Hranjski, Associated Press)
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