The long anticipated run for President by boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is out of the starting gate, reports ABC-CBN.
The boxer and Philippine senator accepted the nomination Sunday from a faction of the ruling PDP-Laban party.
“I am a fighter and I will always be a fighter inside and outside the ring,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao’s campaign could challenge the succession plans of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte who is forbidden by the constitution from seeking a second term, according to Forbes.
A separate faction of the PDP-Laban party nominated Duterte for Vice President which opponents say is a guise for a second term.
The two used to be allies, with Pacquaio even defending Duterte’s drug war and death penalty push, Bloomberg reported. In more recent times, the Senator has criticized the president as corrupt.
“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.”
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