Retired
boxing star Manny Pacquiao recorded a big political success Thursday with
election into the Philippines senate.
The boxing legend is a two-time Congressman and stepped it up on
Thursday after he was declared among 12 new members of the country’s upper
house of Congress, following a general election where 80 percent of 55 million
eligible voters turned out,Mirror reports.
“I can focus and discipline myself, the way I did in boxing to
help the nation,” Pacquiao
told reporters, saying, as a new senator, he would push for free education at
all levels.
The
world champion says he favours restoring the death penalty for drug-related and
other serious crimes, as President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has said he will ask
Congress to re-introduce a the law that was repealed in 2006.
“In the eyes of God, it is not unlawful,” Pacquiao, a conservative Christian, said.
The
37-year-old WBO welterweight champion, adored in his homeland for his grass to
grace story, won more than 16 million votes to come in seventh place.
He faced a major storm early this year after making scathing
remarks about gays and lesbians,
with his ratings plummeting ahead of the polls.
However, a strong victory over American
champion Timothy Bradley in
Las Vegas to win the WBO welterweight title saw his glory restored in his
homeland.
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