Manny Pacquiao on Friday admitted his faults for the mess that marred the negotiations for the airing of his May 2 fight with Ricky Hatton but the Filipino boxing star said that it is network giant ABS-CBN that should be heavily blamed for the broadcast brouhaha.
When it all appeared that the issue of the broadcast rights of his fight had been resolved, Pacquiao on Friday unleashed a flurry of verbal attacks against the network giant, which the boxer said sweet-talked him into signing a deal with the TV station even in the absence of his counsel.
Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, said in a hastily-called press conference that Pacquiao “was not the one who approached ABS-CBN for the purpose of transferring the TV rights from Solar Sports and that it was ABS-CBN sports reporter Dyan Castillejo who approached him with the idea to air the fight with Ricky Hatton on their station.”
Gacal said “Pacquiao was made to believe by the lawyer of ABS-CBN that there was a violation on the part of Solar which convinced him to entertain the idea of transferring the TV rights to ABS-CBN.”
Pacquiao said he remains “saddened, troubled and hurting from all the vilification thrown upon him by the unfortunate incident” an offshoot of his being “too trusting and too accommodating and too shy to say no.”
“He was made to believe that what he signed had factual and legal foundation,” said Gacal, who was joined in the brief affair at the Renaissance Hotel by Eric Pineda, another key member of Team Pacquiao.
“Manny realizes now that if indeed ABS-CBN was motivated by good faith, the prudent thing that they should have done was to exercise due diligence and should have acted without malice,” Gacal said.
“ABS-CBN was more in the position to know what is legal and illegal.”
Never has Pacquiao been criticized than before when he announced on primetime news early last week that he had agreed to let ABS-CBN show his fight with Hatton. After two days, Pacquiao had to come up with a retraction, saying he had made an unwise decision.
Gacal said Pacquiao was caught in a tight fix and was desperate to come out with a win-win solution but only found himself in a deep hole.
Gacal also said that part of the pact with ABS-CBN was the all-out support of the station to Pacquiao’s political plans in Sarangani next year but he declined to identify the individual without the go-signal from Pacquiao.
ABS-CBN on Friday came out with a statement regarding Pacquiao’s latest tirade but network officials instead brushed it off and reiterated the show of support of big boss Gabby Lopez.
“Suportahan na lang natin si Manny. He is a very good boxer and after all, he is a Filipino hero. He brings a lot of pride and joy to all of us Filipinos. Si Manny ang nag-approach sa atin. Hindi tayo ang nagkuha sa kanya. He approached us. He wanted to move to ABS-CBN for obvious reasons. Ang promotion, ang reach ng ABS ay far better than anything he has seen in GMA in the last year. That is the true reason why he wanted to move. He rescinded his contract. He decided to join us. Nagkagulo. Ang masasabi ko lang, we acted in an ethical manner. We did not violate any restrictions in the embargo. There is no deal on the politics. Now he has decided to go back to GMA, suportahan na lang natin siya and wish him well.”
Source: mb.com.ph
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