The 7-division champ charters a private 170-seater plane to take his whole entourage to Dallas, Texas where his fight against the Ghanaian boxer Joshua Clottey will take place. Manny Pacquiao took a flight from his training base in Los Angeles, California last Monday on “Air Pacquiao.”
The plane, which has a big photograph of Pacquiao on its door, carried the logo: “Air Pacquiao”. Even some of the items inside the plane had the logo.
The boxer even sat in the cockpit, playing “pilot” complete with uniform.
When asked why he decided to charter a plane, Pacquiao said: “Gusto ko, sama-sama lahat.” He even brought along his dog, Pacman.
Some of the local media covering the event could not help but be impressed with Pacquiao’s “new mode of transportation”.
Traditionally, Pacquiao takes a convoy from Los Angeles to the site where the fight takes place. However, Dallas is 1251 miles (2014 kilometers) away from Los Angeles.
The pound-for-pound king was mobbed by the press shortly after his arrival at the Dallas Forth Worth Texas Airport at around 10 p.m. on Monday.
After a short meeting with the press, Pacquiao boarded a special utility vehicle on his way to the Gaylord Luxury Hotel where he was met by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.
The Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight will will take place at Cowboys Stadium on Dallas, Texas on March 13, 2010 (March 14 on Philippine Time). You can also watch Pacquiao vs. Clottey online on this site.
Video Credit: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/
Manny Flies to Dallas with ‘Air Pacquiao’
Philippines Ranked 4th in the Most Corrupt Nation in Asia-Pacific
In the recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy showed that the Philippines is the fourth most corrupt of 16 major Asia-Pacific investment destinations.
Based on the survey which was released last Monday, Philippines score a rating of 8.06 on the scale of 0 to 10. In which zero is the best possible score and the 10 is the lowest possible rating.
In 2008, Philippines was ranked as the most corrupt nation in Asia. Last year our country had a rating of 7.0 last year, making it the sixth most corrupt nation last year. This year Philippines is moving up again to the fourth place.
Indonesia is on the top of the list with scored 9.07 out of 10 as the most corrupt nation in the 2010 survey, up from 7.69 points a year ago. The PERC survey polled 2,174 middle and senior business executives in Asia, Australia and the United States.
Cambodia was ranked second most corrupt, followed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, India, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Macao, Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Australia and — rated as the least corrupt in the survey — Singapore.
The survey studies at how corruption affected different levels of political leadership and the civil service, and how major institutions fared in terms of corruption.
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Earthquake Shakes Eastern Turkey At Least 51 Killed
An earthquake of 6.0-magnitude shakes eastern part of Turkey last Monday had at least killed 51 villagers. Officials said that quake aftershocks continued for hours while rescuers searched for trapped survivors.
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:32 am local time in a lightly-populated area of high steppe in Eastern Anatolia. Villagers were sleeping in their mud-brick houses when the earthquake occurs.
“There was a lot of fear and panic among the people. It lasted about a minute,” Nursel Sengezer, a Dogan News Agency correspondent in Elazig province, told broadcaster CNN Turk.
“We felt it very strongly and everyone tried to get out onto the street.”
After the major shake on Monday, families huddled in the open around fires lit to keep them warm, as the ground shook with more than 40 aftershocks, the largest of which had a magnitude of 5.5.
The quake toppled the minarets of three mosques in stricken villages in the Basyurt region of Elazig, according to provincial governor Muammer Erol.
Paramilitary and police directed operations on the outskirts of affected villages, where crowds had gathered, and a Red Crescent team had reached the area and set up a crisis centre.
Health Minister Recep Akdag, who had travelled to Elazig along with Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, put the death toll at 51, revising the figure from 57 given earlier by officials.
Turkey is criss-crossed with faultlines and frequently suffers earthquakes. A large earthquake measuring 7.4 killed about 18,000 people in August 1999.
Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit is the New AFP Chief
The former spy master who is known as the “emperor” is appointed as the new chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Lieutenant General Delfin N. Bangit hails from San Mateo, Rizal and a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Makatarungan” Class of 1978.
The appointment of Lt. Gen. Bangit drew a guarded welcome from soldiers and alarmed critics.
In a statement given by Sen. NoyNoy Aquino, Liberal Party standard-bearer he said that “many groups are [concerned] that the neutrality of the AFP in the coming elections is severely at risk with someone as fiercely loyal to the President as (Bangit) now at the helm of the AFP.”
Aquino’s running mate, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, told reporters Bangit’s appointment was alarming.
“A lot of senior officers were bypassed by this class and officers from this class control almost all of the major service commands. We have to be alert that any sinister plan of this government will not prosper,” said Roxas.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, the LP campaign manager, challenged Bangit to prove his loyalty to the Constitution rather than the one who appointed him.
“All eyes are on him and we expect him as a professional soldier not to allow the AFP to be a tool to prop a very unpopular administration through unconstitutional and illegal means,” said Pangilinan.
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Pacquiao vs. Clottey Match up Has $800 to $100 Bet Odds
Few days to go before the much awaited Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight. Both boxers are now on gearing up towards their top form for the said event. As the big event is getting closer to its date, bookmakers are now getting busy booking up bets.
The betting odds seems to highlight Pacquiao’s apparent invincibility going into the World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
According to bookmakers, Pacquiao is now at minus-800 and Clottey at plus-550. This means that if you bet $800 on a Pacquiao victory will earn just $100 while if you $100 bet on a Clottey victory you win only $550.
An attractive proposition is in the “will go” the distance (minus-180) and “won’t go” the distance (plus-140) betting. This betting proposition means that if the bout lasts less than 9½ rounds, a $100 “won’t go” bet will earn $140. A “will go” bet of $180 will net just $100.
All systems go for the team Pacquiao. “Okay na, ready na,” said Pacquiao, who continues to evade questions regarding the outcome of the pay-per-view tussle. “Good luck to both of us.”
Team Pacquiao will take the three-hour flight to Dallas on a chartered plane along with an entourage of some 150 people.
Meanwhile, Clottey’s team flew to Dallas on a commercial flight Sunday.
