Manny Pacquiao lost the Philippine presidential race to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022. On Tuesday, four years on, he took his oath before the same man in Malacañan Palace, this time as the country’s new anti-poverty chief.
Pacquiao, 47, was sworn in as lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), a role that carries the rank of cabinet secretary. First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Cabinet Secretary Benhur Abalos were among those present at the palace ceremony.
He replaces Lope Santos III, who had led the commission since 2023. Malacañang said Marcos expressed confidence that Pacquiao would strengthen the government’s push against poverty, advance social reforms and bring programs and services closer to communities across the country.
Politics before the boxing biography
Public office is not new territory for Pacquiao. He was congressman for Sarangani from 2010 to 2016 and then served in the Senate from 2016 to 2022 before mounting his run for the presidency.
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That 2022 campaign ended with him finishing third in the presidential race with roughly 3.66 million votes. A 2025 attempt to return to the Senate under Marcos’ Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas coalition also fell short, with Pacquiao placing 18th and outside the winning slate despite more than 10.3 million votes.
Eight weight classes, twelve world titles
His public profile rests on a boxing career with few equals. Pacquiao is the only fighter to have held world titles in eight different weight divisions, with twelve major world titles overall, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2025.
His path into the sport was shaped by hardship. Coverage of Tuesday’s ceremony pointed back to Pacquiao’s own account of growing up in poverty, sleeping rough by the roadside, going without food and saving coins to help his family.
NAPC now sits under Marcos directly
The National Anti-Poverty Commission was created under Republic Act No. 8425 to coordinate poverty-alleviation and social-reform work between national and local governments, and to keep marginalized sectors involved in policy-making.
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Marcos recently signed Executive Order No. 123, moving oversight of the NAPC and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor from the Department of Social Welfare and Development into the Office of the President, where the president himself serves as commission chair.
