Pacquiao files bid for presidency as Philippine race heats

By AARON FAVILA and JOEAL CALUPITAN
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Newly retired boxing star Manny Pacquiao has filed his certificate of candidacy for the Philippine presidency at the start of the registration period for the May elections. Restrictions were in place at the registration venues to prevent huge crowds from gathering in a country hit hard by the pandemic and troubled by past election violence. Still, hundreds of fans and supporters holding Pacquiao’s portrait and Philippine flags lined the street leading to the registration center in Manila. Many expect the race to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte to be crowded and politically hostile. Duterte himself plans to seek the vice presidency in a move that whipped up a constitutional debate.