Pacquiao to join Villar’s campaign sorties after Clottey bout

BOXING champion Manny Pacquiao has promised to join the campaign sorties of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Manny Villar after his fight with Joshua Clottey in March.

“Soon after my return to the Philippines, I will join my beloved president Manny Villar so I can introduce him to our countrymen,” Pacquiao said on Sunday night in Pilipino in a video-taped message shown at a concert rally in Mandaue City that capped the NP’s two-day barnstorming of vote-rich Cebu province.

In endorsing Villar, Pacquiao said: “He’s the only person who can help the poor because he defied poverty to become a successful businessman.”

The video clip was shown by noontime host Willie Revillame as a surprise for Villar, who has then just finished delivering his speech to a crowd of over 80,000 in a reclamation area in Cebu.

“Let us support our beloved president, Manny Villar. Sa dami ng taon na lumipas, wala pa rin tayong pagbabago, lalo pa pong padami nang padami ang mga taong mahihirap at walang trabaho,” said Pacquiao, who referred to Villar as his “beloved president.”

The boxing champ said he is confident that propoor Villar, who, like him, overcame poverty, will solve poverty.

“The way I see it, we need people who have experienced how it is to be poor. I myself come from that sector, and I feel the hurt when the poor cry for help from the government, Pacquiao said in Tagalog.

He added: “This is Manny Villar, the answer to our problems because I know he came from poverty, we need a leader who can relate to the sentiments of the poor…I sincerely plead that we support Manny Villar. F. Marasigan

Source: businessmirror.com.ph