Whoa! This very gutsy, young lady! I have my opinions which I will share later after I formulate them as well as you did because I am sure this will be a controversial post. For now, I like the ideas you are suggesting for Manny's future advocacies. While, respecting each person's freedom to choose their own professional career path and also their personal advocacies/public service, maybe we should criticize all those who are trying to use Manny for their own gain.... more to come...

I would encourage Manny to use every God given talents he's got including entertainment. 

Politics I am afraid is a different ball game where people's money and our collective future is at stake.  We need politicians that are not only honest to help us rid the Philippines of corruption but are also trained to get the Philippines to leap frog towards our common vision of being with the likes of, if not better than, Japan and Singapore.

To be an effective model of anything ethical or moral, he has got to earn the integrity.  Unfortunately, he is losing in this part of the ring by getting involved in scandals.

Hi Nicole, very well said! I feel the same way about how the media is playing this, the lack of corporate responsibility and how great it will be if only media can be used positively to create that mind/paradigm shift amongst the masses and speed up development (i.e. more specifically to upgrade the substance of TV programming and other media). I wish I know influential people in that area to at least try to influence their agenda. I've tried some avenues to convey this message but failed; what I learned is that it's also very territorial amongst the elites and powerful who could actually make that positive change in our country if they wish to do so.. While there will be claims that they're doing something, it's really just touching on the tip of the iceberg.. It's quite a reflection of how the world thinks nowadays.. They just love to see someone rise dramatically, intoxicate him with all the media blitz and see him fall, along with his love ones. That sells. At the end of the day, it's really about bottomline figures on many fronts, unfortunately. The question is, what will our young and future generation learn from all this? I suggest you convert your piece into a more positive spin and write Paquiao himself since you've already put a lot of thought into this. You have very good and concrete suggestions. If I were Paquiao I would actually do as you suggested. Who knows, he'll pick up and act on some of them. If not, well that's his choice and his loss I believe. With best wishes, Judith

I would like to share an article from  Pinoy Pilgrim Global Foundation Inc. written by Mr. Manoling de Leon...

Fallen Idols: Tiger and Manny

What a bloody November it has been!
  
Manny had his ears bashed, his face puffed, and Krista came into the limelight like a Venus rising from a giant clam.  Tiger had his lips smacked, his SUV wrecked, and Jamie (or Rachel, depending on which news report you follow) began her 15 minutes of fame.

In the mix of post-fight scenarios – not the one on the Las Vegas ring but in the Thanksgiving Mass, and not the one in the Australian golf course but in an Isleworth mansion – we have learned how excellent role models can turn out to be nothing but pieces of dung.
 
But let’s not judge our idols harshly.  In the absence of adequate information, I’d rather give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that the reports of their adulterous behavior have been grossly exaggerated.

Can public figures really have a private life we shouldn’t meddle with, as some make us believe?  Or shouldn’t they rather grow up and see that part of their job is to admit that people admire them because of how they (seem to) live excellence in all aspects of their life?

Many politicians made the steamy transition from professional excellence to the art of the impossible, and the reason people admire so few of them is that most professionals-turned-politicians ended up like greedy swine at the trough.  Rare indeed is the politician who kept his or her integrity intact while swimming through the political estero.

I know many excellent managers who rose through the ranks by dint of hard work and moral rectitude, only to get swallowed up by the system soon after savoring the sweet nectar of power and influence.
  
How many CEOs worshipped on the pedestal of Wall Street turned out to be fakes who merely rode on a wave of financial chicanery and MBA mumbo jumbo?

Lots!
  
That’s what the RH Bill will expose, and the one reason why our country’s political brain trust will be exposed as the clowns they have always been.

Now, everyone blames the poor multiplying like bacteria in our urban Petri dishes.  Everyone also blames the Church who keeps the poor ignorant of the panoply of birth control strategies made available by science. To the last woman and man, they blame our growing population for the backward economic development of our country.

But when our honorable lawgivers pass the RH Bill, and we reduce the number of poor people, humiliate and expose the Church as the backward-thinking, anti-progress interest group that it is, and start educating millions of boys and girls and men and women on how to practice safe sex so they can become responsible adults, then our politicians will run out of excuses to hide their incompetence.
This is their vision, to make us finally see that people were the problem, and that the best way to eliminate the problem is to eliminate people. Sounds logically simple, right?

I see it clearly now. The Philippines will be a developing country, getting rich beyond our wildest dreams, full of responsible people who, like rabbits, can have sex many times sans HIV-AIDS and the responsibility of having and raising children.  What if they’re wrong?  
If you support the RH Bill, it means you are among the millions of Filipinos who believe the promises of honorable politicians.  I guess that’s what passing the RH Bill makes of the Philippines: a country of fools run by fools elected by fools.  Let me warn the politicians though: fool the people too much and they will turn into a mob that will tear you to pieces.

Manny Pacquiao is still a champ. Whether he be in politics or in entertainment, he still deserves to be called one of the greatest fighters of his time. His skill in boxing is well worth mentioning.

(after he addresses his own basic needs in a very tasteful and tempered manner), -> I dont think its fair to judge him on how he spends his money. That statement could as well be directed more on the 'other' wealthy people.

 

I would relate the Manny Pacquiao phenomenon to that of Michael Jackson's. MJ's contribution to music is so huge that people were willing to look past the alleged lapses in his personal life. These lapses, regardless if true or not, can never smear his legacy to music. In the same way, Manny Pacquiao's contribution to the Filipino people in the world stage is so huge, his other alleged lapses will pale in comparison as well to his legacy to the Filipino pride.

Shoulda...woulda...coulda. Why is it that since time immemorial, every time a Filipino reaches admirable heights in his chosen path, some of us decide to form an opinion that he/she should use his influence, this way or that way. Is it our way of 'humanizing' the god-like persona - a predictable outcome of such an historical event - these modern day heroes receive? Probably. 

This is the same as telling the greatest boxer of our generation..."You're not the people's champ because you haven't rejuvenated Philippine Sports, you haven't figured out how to educate the poor, you haven't engineered a plan to clean the Pasig river...etcetera, etcetera. "

Let us take a step back and remember that Manny, god-like as he may be to most of us, is still, at the end of the day, a boxer. A boxer who has permanently stamped the Philippine flag in the hearts and minds of the millions who follow the sport all over the world.  A boxer whose extraordinary heart, blinding speed, and irreproachable focus have placed him at the pinnacle of his chosen path. 

Let the educators do the same in their own 'rings', and have them rise to such a height that they would figure out  how to educate people  best - and then execute on it. It is their fight...not Manny's. It would be as ridiculous to ask them to step in the ring and go a few rounds with Cotto.  

 Let the educators do a Manny Pacquiao in their own 'rings.'

I would not call Manny's desire to enter politics and thrive in show business as lapses. On the contrary, I think of them as his well deserved personal reward for all the hard work he has put in and all prestige he has given our country in the boxing ring. He can afford it...who are we to judge what he does with what he has. 

I wouldn't even call the Krista episode a lapse in judgement...I would call that one...none-of-our-business. :) 

I agree that Manny is entitled to partake in whatever activity he pleases.  He is his own person after all.  And, I do think he has the right to revel in his current achievements.

However, I also believe he has, by a long stretch, a much greater opportunity to give back than other Filipinos, even those that have put in as much work in their craft as he has.  I would hope he takes that into consideration for his future endeavors once he has had his time as a celebrated figure.

For the Filipinos, a people that is more familial as a whole than the people of most other countries I've seen, I would think it is upsetting to see one of your own work their way up in the world and not make a valiant effort to try to pull the rest up.  It is definitely not their duty to pull the others up, just as an older brother/sister does not *have to* help struggling younger siblings, but I can see why it would be disappointing.

A thought-provoking quote which I think is applicable here: "With great power comes great responsibility." :)