Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao Lines Up Projects Prior to Boxing Match

MANILA, Philippines – A part of boxing champ, Rep. Manny Pacquiao's, preparation for his upcoming match against American-Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 includes the lining up of priority projects for his constituents in Sarangani in the House of Representatives.

Legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach revealed this, explaining that they moved the start of Pacquiao's rigorous training in Baguio City until Thursday so that the Sarangani legislator may have until Wednesday to attend to his legislative duties before putting the hat on as a professional boxer.

Roach, who flew to Manila last week to rev up Pacquiao's training, disclosed that he will even allow Pacquiao to bring some of his homeworks from Congress all the way to their traning camp in the Pines City to keep him from over-training.


"He will have homework with him. You know, he has time to work on that. He's a multi-tasker...  Sometimes, I like it when he needs a day off because he works so hard on training," Roach told reporters after seeing Pacquiao performed legislative work at the plenary hall of Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

"Even on some weekends, when he needs to come home, he can try to come back (to Manila) for a day. But (he will not be doing his legislative work for more than a month and a half) unless it's something urgent. There's always an exception to the case," he said.

Roach supervised Pacquiao's light training for the first time at the House of Representatives Gymnasium, a few hours before the Lower Congress went on session Monday afternoon, expressing confidence that his new duty as a lawmaker will not force the Filipino boxing icon to lag behind his training schedule.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao assured his constituents and the leaders in the House of Representatives that he will represent them and attend sessions before training with Roach in Baguio from Sept. 23 to Oct. 20.
The champion of seven different world boxing titles said he has been preparing the budget proposals he will be needing to fund his projects like public hospital, high school and colleges in Sarangani in time for the budget hearing before the House committee on appropriations this Wednesday.

He also expressed confidence in his legislative staff who will stay behind to follow up his priority projects in the Lower Congress.

Roach will go through boxing strategies and training for Pacquiao to beat Margarito in Baguio City until next month before flying to Los Angeles, California on Oct. 20 for more intense preparations