Tag Archives: Philippine Arena

Philippine Presidential Politics: COMELEC Schedules Boxing Match Between Mar Roxas And Rodrigo Duterte

April 15, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Partial photo credit: manilagrapika.wordpress.com

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – With only 23 days to go before the Philippine presidential elections, the word war has intensified between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas. Among other things, Duterte has called Roxas “gay,” while Roxas says Duterte is “all talk.”

Well, the time for debate is over.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) announced today that it will hold a boxing match between the two presidential candidates to settle once and for all who is most fit to become Commander-in-Chief.

The match will be held at the Philippine Arena on May 2, just a week before the elections. May 2 also happens to be the one-year anniversary of the “Fight of the Century” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Meayweather. We all know who lost that fight.

Ironically, Pacquiao, who is running for senator, has agreed to be the referee for the Roxas-Duterte match.

Originally, the COMELEC wanted to schedule an underfight between the two female presidential candidates, Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, but both declined. They said they’d rather watch Roxas and Duterte go for the knockout.

CNN Philippines will broadcast the boxing match live starting at 7pm.

Government, International, Music, Tourism

NEWEST PHILIPPINES’ TOURISM CAMPAIGN FEATURES IMELDA MARCOS AND SURVIVING BEATLES

April 25, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines ( The Adobo Chronicles) – ‘Give Peace A Chance.’ That’s the theme of the newest campaign by the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) to promote tourism to this peace-loving nation of 100 Million people.

The campaign will be officially launched on July 4 this year with a grand ‘reunion’ among former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos and the surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. The launch date happens to mark the 49th anniversary of the Beatles’ first and only visit to the Philippines.

Forty-nine years ago, the Beatles arrived in Manila for two sold-our concerts, considered the Liverpool band’s most attended live performance ever.

But the euphoria that met Paul, John, George and Ringo immediately turned sour when the quartet failed to show up at a reception arranged by Marcos at Malacañang, the presidential palace. Marcos complained that she was stood up, but the Beatles have always maintained that no one ever told them about the scheduled visit. The media and the Filipinos rallied behind Marcos, resulting in an ugly send-off for the Beatles who vowed never to return to the country.

The DOT campaign hopes to inspire people around the world to visit the Philippines this year as the Aquino government continues to negotiate with Muslim separatists for peace and unity.

The historic July 4th meeting between Imelda and the surviving Beatles will be held during a musical concert at the Philippine Arena, considered to be the world’s largest indoor arena. It is owned by Iglesia Ni Kristo (Church of Christ), the second largest religious denomination in the Philippines, next to the Catholic Church.

‘Give Peace A Chance’ happens to be a song composed by another Beatle, John Lennon. It has been, and continues to be, a favorite theme song for peace movements all over the world.

International, Sports

VENUE OF PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT ON MAY 2 MOVED TO MANILA!

February 23, 2015 Pol Pinoy 10 Comments

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Within just fifteen minutes after official confirmation of the May 2nd championship boxing bout between Filipino Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather was made public, the fight’s venue, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, sold out.

Seeing as how this is being dubbed as the fight of the century, perhaps even eclipsing the 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, both the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps agreed to move the venue from Las Vegas to Manila.

The new venue is The Philippine Arena, located just a few miles north of the capital. It has the distinction as the world’s largest indoor arena, with a capacity of 55,000. In contrast, the MGM Garden Arena can only hold 16,800 people.

“We want all the boxing fans to have the opportunity to personally witness this historical event, so we wanted to find a bigger venue that can accommodate more people,” a spokesperson for the Pacquiao camp told reporters in Manila.

Manila Mayor (and former Philippine president) Joseph Estrada welcomed the news, saying that this will bring millions of tourism and business dollars to his city. “With all the new hotel and condo infrastructure, we certainly will be able to accommodate boxing fans from all over the world who will visit the Philippines to personally witness the fight,” he said.

President NoyNoy Aquino directed the Manila Airports Authority to speed up renovations and improvements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in time for the May event.

Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman also announced that she has scheduled another ‘camping’ for Manila’s street children and homeless families at a resort south of Manila during the week of the fight to hide them from view of visiting tourists. (It will be recalled that Soliman rounded up street children and brought them to the same resort during Pope Francis’ visit to Manila last month).