To Air or Not To Air Manny Pacquiao’s Boxing Match
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 am (Election 2007, Media)
Rep. Darlene Custodio has filed a motion to cancel the airing of Manny Pacquiao’s boxing match against Mexican Jorge Solis. Both Custodio and Pacquaio are vying for a Congress seat to represent the First Distict of the Province of South Cotabato.
IMHO, Custodio shouldn’t have even have to file a motion. Section 6 of RA 9006, the Fair Elections Act clearly declares that “All registered parties and bona fide candidates shall have equal access to media time and space.” Moreover, Section 6.6 states that:
Any mass media columnist, commentator, announcer, reporter, on-air correspondent or personality who is a candidate for any elective public office or is a campaign volunteer for or employed or retained in any capacity by any candidate or political party shall be deemed resigned, if so required by their employer, or shall take a leave of absence from his/her work as such during the campaign period: Provided, That any media practitioner who is an official of a political party or a member of the campaign staff of a candidate or political party shall not use his/her time or space to favor any candidate or political party.
Although Pacquiao is not one would call a conventional mass media personality, he is one. In the same way that Cesar Montano, Richard Gomez, Tito Sotto and other media personalities have ceased to appear in mass media, Pacquiao should also cease doing so. He cannot run for office and expect special treatment just because he is considered as some sort of national hero. His presumption that he will be excused from following the law just goes to show how he didn’t really think hard enough before he decided to run for office.
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Gerry said,
April 4, 2007 at 12:08 am
Depriving the FILIPINOS from watching its favorite sporting event is a like digging a burial site for Custodio’s political career. We all know how we filipinos love to see a fellow filipino in the international scenario, would it be a sport event or any event… I guarantee Custudio’s name will always be a history in the political arena if she insisted on depriving us this rare occasion…
Boxing » Blog Archives » Boxing Results: May 2001 said,
April 4, 2007 at 2:53 am
[...] Darlene Custodio has filed a motion to cancel the airing of Manny Pacquiao s boxing match against Mexican Jorge Solis. Both Custodio and Pacquaio are vying for a Congress seat to represent the First Distict of the Province of South … – More – [...]
Boxing » Blog Archives » Beat Boxing Budgie said,
April 6, 2007 at 2:53 am
[...] Distict of the Province of South … – More – Posted in Boxing | Trackback | del.icio.us | Top OfPage [...]
Tess Termulo said,
April 6, 2007 at 10:24 pm
In the first place, Manny Pacquiao should have chosen between fighting this match and running for government office. He simply cannot perform at optimum in both very different field of work at the same time.
But, of course, the airing of this boxing match cannot be canceled. There would definitely be an uproar among the fans. Then Pacquiao would come out a martyr, and that would be bad for Custodio’s career. However, I think it is her right to call our attention to what is being overridden in favor of this “national hero”. After all, the law is supposed to be applicable to everyone. No special considerations should be made.