Pacquiao seen as good bet for Nobel Peace Prize

VANCOUVER, British Columbia: Based on his accomplishments and contributions to peace and order in the Philippines, newly crowned World Boxing Council junior middleweight (super welterweight) king Manny Pacquiao should be a good candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize. This was the suggestion made recently by a prominent leader of the Filipino community in British Columbia who hailed the 31-year-old boxer for “helping reduce crime rate every time he fights in the ring.”

Alfred Nobel, the Swedish initiator of the world’s most prestigious awards (the Peace trophy being one of them), had said that the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who “ . . . shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Tom Avendano, the president of Multicultural Helping House Society here, said that “no Filipino has done what Manny Pacquiao has done” in terms of uniting warring factions in politics and insurgency in the Philippines.

“Everytime Pacquiao has a fight, Filipinos all over the world are united,” added Avendano, a supporter of Reyfort Media Group Chairman Reynaldo Fortaleza in setting up plans for a possible visit here by Pacquiao next year.

“For several times now, crime rate was zero in the Philippines, there was ceasefire between rebels and government forces and nobody was arguing or fighting [whenever Pacquiao takes to the ring]. Everyone is united. No Filipino has done that, and no one can do what he has been doing,” he said.

Amado Mercado, an active community event organizer here, said it took a bloody revolution during Spanish colonization in the 19th century before Jose Rizal became a national hero and united Filipinos, and it cost opposition leader Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. his life before he captured the imagination of the people.

When Pacquiao, also a congressman representing Sarangani province in southern Mindanao, unites the Filipino nation, there is neither casualty nor violence and Filipinos living around the world stand up as one.

Before sending the legendary Oscar De La Hoya into retirement with a spectacular eighth round stoppage in December 2008, Pacquiao was the cover story of Time magazine, which paid him a tribute for his humanitarian activities outside the ring.

Pacquiao has also exhibited true sportsmanship by not engaging in name-calling and trash-talking against his opponents whom he mostly befriended after conquering them in the ring.

The government is also thinking of tapping Pacquiao as negotiator in a peace panel with leftist rebels.

The Filipino boxing icon is the first man to win eight world boxing titles in as many weight divisions.