MANILA (Reuters) - Seven-time world boxing champion Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao registered as a candidate for a seat in the Philippines lower house of Congress on Tuesday, climbing into the political ring for the second time following a 2007 defeat.
Accompanied by his family, Pacquiao attended a Catholic mass before marching to the poll body office in Alabel town on the southern island of Mindanao to submit his nomination papers under his own political party -- People's Champ Movement (PCM).
"I am ready, there's no more turning back," Pacquiuao told a cheering crowd of supporters, confident of winning a title that eluded him at his first attempt in May 2007.
He was defeated in the congressional election in 2007 by an incumbent opposition lawmaker, Darlene Custodio, who belongs to a prominent political clan in General Santos City.
Pacquiao is now facing a tough opponent supported by the three biggest political and business families in the province of Sarangani, who also have close links to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Arroyo, for her part, filed her own candidacy for a seat in lower house of Congress at her hometown in Lubao, Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila.
"I realized I am not ready to step down completely from public service," Arroyo said on Monday when she decided to seek a seat for Congress as her term as president ends on June 2010.
"Of course the family agrees, we support her 100 percent," Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel, told reporters after the president submitted her nomination papers under the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition party.
The party's standard-bearer, former defense chief Gilberto Teodoro and his running-mate, television game show host Edu Manzano, submitted their nominations for president and vice president at the poll body's main office in Manila.
(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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Source: reuters.com
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