As of this posting, eight-division boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao is among the top 12 candidates who are bound for a Senatorial seat in the Philippines.
According to the live and on-going poll count of local media outlet Rappler, Pacquiao is currently situated at the number eight spot with over 15 million votes. The partial count already has 92% of the precincts tallied as of this writing, with poll canvassing expected to be finished by Tuesday. Once made official, Senator Pacquiao will assume office on July 1st.
Pacquiao’s current political run has been successful so far, despite the major criticisms hurled against him. As an active politician being the Congressman of Sarangani Province in the country’s southern region, he was previously questioned for having attended a mere four sessions in congress for the entire year of 2014.
Most recently, he was also condemned by the LGBT community for his controversial remarks against same-sex marriage, saying humans are “worse than animals” for allowing homosexual relationships.
For his part, Pacquiao has promised to devote himself fully to public service when he announced his retirement after his rubber match against Timothy Bradley last April 9th. He did, however, leave the door open for a possible comeback in the future.