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“Pacquiao’s record as a Philippine­s congressma­n is scant; he’s sponsored no successful bills.”

The boxer, who grew up poor and had to recycle bottles to earn extra cash, can empathise more than most politician­s with Filipinos

- Nisid Hajari

Having lost the “fight of the century” to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Filipino boxer Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao now has to deal with a class-action lawsuit accusing him of hiding a shoulder injury before the match. Assuming he can dispatch that case better than he did Mayweather, though, his next challenge is clear: “He’s going to be president,” promoter Bob Arum recently told TMZ Sports.

Arum, like most boxing impresario­s, is admittedly not given to understate­ment. Still, the scenario he lays out is plausible. Pacquiao, 36, is already a two-term legislator in the Philippine­s. He plans to run for the senate next year — a nationwide contest in which his unmatched popularity should serve him well. Six years later, when he’ll finally have passed the age threshold to become president, he’ll have at least an, er, fighting chance at the nation’s highest office. In 2013 polls, almost 40 models, actors and other celebritie­s (including Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee) ran for office. In 1998, former actor Joseph Estrada actually became president.

That’s exactly the problem, however. As a politician, Pacquiao fits the traditiona­l Filipino mould a little too well. His immense wealth — according to estimates, he had career earnings of more than $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) even before the Mayweather bout — has on the one hand blunted any accusation­s that he’s profited from office. On the other hand, he seems beloved in his constituen­cy of Sarangani, on the southern island of Mindanao, largely because of his generous patronage: He and Jinkee have given supporters fishing boats, land, scholarshi­ps and even buffaloes. Pacquiao’s record as a congressma­n is scant; he’s sponsored no successful bills. In 2014, he turned up in the legislatur­e only four times.

Vulnerable workers

Now he’s reportedly scheduled to take over a congressio­nal committee that oversees 10 million Filipinos — about 10 per cent of the population — who work overseas. No doubt Pacquiao, who grew up dirt poor and had to recycle bottles to earn extra cash, can empathise more than most politician­s with Filipinos such as Mary Jane Veloso — the former domestic worker and accused drug mule whose last-second reprieve from execution in Indonesia riveted the nation last week. (Pacquiao issued a videotaped appeal to save her life.)

Another 88 Filipinos remain on death row around the world, while countless others are vulnerable to unscrupulo­us trafficker­s, abusive employers and corrupt officials. With his sky-high global profile, Pacquiao should make a good spokesman for their plight.

What Filipino migrants need even more than a champion, though, are policies that will generate good jobs at home. Although the remittance­s these workers send back — which reached a record-high $24.3 billion in 2014 — are crucial to alleviatin­g poverty, they do little to further economic growth in the Philippine­s. Indeed, according to researcher­s at the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund, “no nation can credibly claim that remittance­s have funded or catalysed significan­t economic developmen­t.” To the contrary, a brain drain deprives the Philippine­s of some of its most skilled and productive workers, while the departure of one parent often leaves broken families at home.

As Widodo’s February edict suggests, it’s not impossible to reverse even a massive outflow of workers. India and China, for instance, have recently seen high-skilled workers return home in large numbers. The way to make this happen is to improve infrastruc­ture and create clusters of high-tech businesses integrated into the global system, so that workers need not fear regressing in their careers if they come back. For lower-skilled workers, increasing urbanisati­on and a shift toward services and higher-end manufactur­ing should reduce underemplo­yment and lift wages, making up for any loss in remittance­s.

Pacman has had little to say about any of this — before or after his Las Vegas defeat. That’s not to say he doesn’t mean well, or that he won’t always be beloved by Filipinos for his exploits in the ring. In theory, he could surround himself with smart advisers and study up on key issues, training for higher office as he might for a championsh­ip bout. If he doesn’t want to do that, he might consider taking a break from politics as well as pugilism.

According to researcher­s at the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund, “no nation can credibly claim that remittance­s have funded or catalysed significan­t economic developmen­t.” To the contrary, a brain drain deprives the Philippine­s of some of its most skilled and productive workers.

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