Boxing great Manny Pacquiao has announced he will will run for president of the Philippines in 2022.
Having done it all in the boxing ring, the only man to hold world titles in eight different divisions has now set his sights on succeeding in the political arena. He has been a senator since 2016 and also served as a congressman.
A faction of the ruling PDP-Laban party nominated Pacquiao on Sunday during its national convention.
“I’m a fighter and will always be a fighter, inside and outside of the ring,” Pacquiao said at the event. “All my life, I haven’t backed down from any fight. Nothing is impossible if it’s ordained by God.”
Pacquiao has been highlighting alleged corruption in the administration and is seen as a threat to President Rodrigo Duterte’s candidate in 2022. Pacquiao was ranked fifth among 15 possible presidential candidates in a June survey.
The Filipino boxer was once a close ally to Duterte. However, recently Pacquiao criticised the administration for alleged corruption and the country's stance on the South China Sea issue.
“We need progress, we need to win against poverty, we need government to serve our people with integrity, compassion and transparency,” Pacquiao said. “We are fed up with the promises of change.”
Pacquiao, an all-time great boxer, was among the world’s highest-paid athletes in 2019, according to Forbes. However, in his latest bout last month, Pacquiao, 42, lost to Cuban fighter Yordenis Ugas. He later apologised to fans for the defeat.
“I don't know,” Pacquiao said when asked if he was going to retire after the defeat to Uas. “I need to relax and make a decision [about his future].
“I'm so thankful to the fans, for coming here to witness the fight. I'm really, really appreciative of your effort to come here, in spite of the pandemic. I'm sorry that we lost tonight, but you know, I did my best, but my best wasn’t good enough. I apologise."
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
