The boxing champ as legislator: Are journalists concerned?

FILIPINOS CHEERED Manuel “Pac-man” Pacquiao’s latest victory against American boxer Keith Thurman, when he clinched the World Boxing Association super welterweight title via a split decision on their July 21 match. His 62^nd win earned the usual praises from people all over the country. Congratulatory messages stormed social media. A newbie senator even filed a resolution celebrating his win.

Pacquiao is probably the best Filipino boxer to date, and he is peerless globally in his category. But what about his official position as senator? It seems that journalists are willing to relegate this issue to the sidelines of the boxing ring.

Pacquiao was notably absent in two major political events on July 22. The day after his win, the senator could not attend the opening of the 18^th Congress when President Duterte delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA). This year, senators and congressmen also elected the leaders of their respective chambers on the same day.

Pacquiao’s boxing matches have gotten in the way of his attendance in sessions. Records show that during the 17^th Congress, he was in fact the top absentee.

In June, media did report that Pacquiao holds the worst attendance record in the Senate, next only to Leila De Lima. The same reports did point out that de Lima has been in detention since 2016. The accounts noted that Pacquiao was absent in 12 out of the 61 Senate plenary sessions from July 23, 2018 to June 4, 2019 because he was either “sick” or “just absent.” None of the media, however, checked if these absences were because he was training for one of his fights.

How Pacquiao can discharge his duties as a senator while he continues to prioritize fighting for the millions he earns per bout is a nagging question that none of his peers have raised. And most of the media have been silent on the issue.

CMFR reviewed the coverage of the broadsheets Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, The Philippine Star and primetime news programs of ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, CNN Philippines’ Network News, GMA-7’s 24 Oras and TV5’s Aksyon from July 20 to 24.

Print, except for the Inquirer, dedicated their banners to highlight the boxer’s win, adding related stories elsewhere in the inside pages. But TV coverage of Pacquiao’s most recent fight was less than that given his past bouts.

The issues of the SONA rightly took precedence in the news agenda on TV. In the past, some TV news programs used an average of 40 percent of airtime covering Pacquiao’s fights. This time, the preparations for the SONA and the race for the House speakership got more time on July 22. TV Patrol spent only 7:30 minutes or 30 percent of airtime on the fight; 24 Oras had 6:33 minutes or 17 percent; News Night, 3:00 minutes or 12 percent. Aksyon does not have a primetime news program on weekends, but applied only 2:21 minutes or 7 percent to Pacquiao’s latest bout.

But the fact that the boxer is also an elected legislator, a senator no less, seemed forgotten. CMFR checked and found media willing to publicize Pacman’s every statement on issues.

CMFR reviewed his Facebook page where Pacquiao claims to have proposed 12 bills that passed the 17^th Congress. A February 2019 post boasted that he is the principal author of Republic Act No. 11163 declaring every last Monday of January National Bible Day. He also said that he had two bills awaiting the President’s signature: (1) one creating an Overseas Filipino Workers handbook, and (2) another on the construction of the Sarangani Sports Training Center. None of these bills are specially significant. He is co-author of seven other bills, including the expanded maternity leave act and the Philippine national identification act. However, co-authoring a bill in too many cases involves only affixing one’s signature at the behest of one’s colleagues. It is widely known that the writing of these bills are prepared by staff and submitted jointly by a Senate committee.

The bottom line is that Pacquiao can’t be a legislator while continuing to prioritize his boxing career—which incidentally he had vowed to retire from once in the Senate. But the vow seems now a thing of the past, having announced recently that will not be hanging up his gloves soon.

Meanwhile, the boxing champ has three more years to his current term in the Senate. Which brings up the question of whether Pacquiao is giving taxpayers their money’s worth and whether he is attending adequately to his constituents needs.

Shouldn’t journalists care?