Palace wishes Pacquiao, Donaire good luck

Malacañang is wishing Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire good luck in their respective fights in Las Vegas today.

In a statement, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the entire country is behind both boxers as they face Jessie Vargas and Jessie Magdaleno, respectively.

“We wish our boxers good luck. The whole nation is behind the two boxers, cheering for the pride of the Philippines and praying for the win,” Andanar added.

“Flash” Donaire will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight belt while Pacquiao – known as the Pambansang Kamao – is making a return from retirement to fight for the WBO welterweight title.

Meanwhile, only Sen. Joel Villanueva among the senators has flown to Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Vargas bout.

Villanueva had flown earlier to the US with his family for an event with the Jesus is Lord community.

The Pacquiao fight comes just a day before Congress resumes its plenary sessions, which could be the reason why the senator’s colleagues were not able to fly to Las Vegas.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said his schedule was too tight to allow him to leave for the US to watch Pacquiao’s fight. Congress went on a two-week break timed annually during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

The Senate has a lot of work to do up to the end of the year, foremost of which is the plenary debate on the P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said they hope to pass the national budget measure before the year ends.

“We will exert our best efforts to timely conduct our hearings and ensure the early passage of this most important piece of legislation,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel said the Senate would also tackle the bill that seeks to grant emergency powers to the President to allow him to address the traffic crisis in Metro Manila and other major urban areas.

Other pending priority legislation that the Senate will work on include the proposed bill on ending “endo” or labor contractualization, the proposed SIM Card Registration Act, amendments to the Bank Secrecy Law and the bill adjusting the country’s income tax rates. –