House of Representatives (2010–2016) On February 12, 2007, Pacquiao announced his campaign for a seat in the
Philippine House of Representatives to represent the
1st District of South Cotabato province running as a candidate of the
Liberal Party faction under
Manila mayor Lito Atienza. Pacquiao, said he was persuaded to run by the local officials of
General Santos, hoping he would act as a bridge between their interests and the national government. In preparation for his political career in the Filipino House of Representatives, Pacquiao enrolled in the Certificate Course in Development, Legislation, and Governance at the Development Academy of the Philippines – Graduate School of Public and Development Management (DAP-GSPDM). and
Daniel Inouye On November 21, 2009, Pacquiao announced that he would run again for a
congressional seat, but this time in Sarangani province, the hometown of his wife Jinkee. In May 2010, Pacquiao
was elected to the House of Representatives in the
15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of
Sarangani. He scored a landslide victory over the wealthy and politically well-entrenched Chiongbian clan that had been in power in the province for more than thirty years. Pacquiao got 120,052 votes while his opponent for the seat, Roy Chiongbian, got 60,899 votes. In 2010, Pacquiao made a speech on human trafficking that earned praise. However, he also received criticism for coming out as uninformed during a discussion of the contentious reproductive health bill that same year. In 2013, he was re-elected to the
16th Congress of the Philippines. He ran unopposed. Additionally, his wife, Jinkee, was also elected as vice-governor of Sarangani, while his younger brother,
Rogelio lost his bid as congressman. Because of other commitments, Pacquiao only attended one Congress session on the congress' final leg and was criticized for being the top absentee among lawmakers. Pacquiao filed a total of less than 20 bills
Senate (2016–2022) On October 5, 2015, Pacquiao formally declared that he was running for senator under the
United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party of vice-president Jejomar Binay. On May 19, 2016, Pacquiao was formally elected as a senator by the Commission on Elections. Pacquiao garnered over 16 million votes, landing at 7th place. Pacquiao earlier aligned himself with the
Duterte government. He facilitated on September 18, 2016, the ouster of
Leila de Lima (a Duterte critic) from the chairmanship of the Senate Justice committee and criticized de Lima's presentation three days later of an alleged member of the
Davao Death Squad. In another Senate hearing, Pacquiao defended then-Davao City Vice Mayor
Paolo Duterte from allegations of having a part, along with the vice mayor's alleged drinking buddy Charlie Tan and Kenneth Dong, in a 2017 seized
₱6.4-billion shipment of illegal drugs from Xiamen, China, into the Philippines. As of 2018, Pacquiao has filed a total of 31 Senate bills during the 17th Congress. And in a bill filed alongside Senator
Bato dela Rosa and
Bong Go, he backed the return of
capital punishment. In June 2019, the Philippine Senate released a data showing Pacquiao as having the worst attendance record among all senators in the 17th Congress, reflecting a struggle Pacquiao had since he was a congressman. Despite the poor attendance, he still managed to enact four laws from the bills he filed. During the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Pacquiao worked with
Alibaba Group co-founder
Jack Ma to help bring to the Philippines 50,000
COVID-19 test kits through their respective charity foundations. In December 2020, Pacquiao became acting party president of
PDP–Laban, the ruling political party, when
Koko Pimentel resigned. However, the position will eventually become disputed between Pacquiao and Energy Secretary
Alfonso Cusi.
Alfonso Cusi's faction through a vote decided that Pacquiao is no longer party president of PDP–Laban on July 17. Melvin Matibag, the deputy secretary-general of PDP–Laban, defended the vote, saying it was organized because the term limits of the party's officials had already expired. Pacquiao is still regarded by his faction as party president. In May 2022, Pacquiao called for the "speedy release" of fellow Senator
Leila De Lima, who had been detained for five years, after witnesses against De Lima retracted their testimony. Pacquiao had earlier been vocal about De Lima's supposed links to a purported drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa, an allegation that led to De Lima's arrest and detention.
2022 presidential campaign (center) and
Leni Robredo (right) during the 2nd
presidential debate As early as June 2020, Pacquiao's former promoter
Bob Arum declared that the senator expressed that he will run in 2022 in a conversation with him uttering "Bob, I'm gonna run in 2022 and, when I win, I want you there at my inauguration.'" Speculations quickly spread around a possible Pacquiao run for president, backed by his own expression of interest in a presidential bid. In June 2021, he expressed belief that Duterte's response towards China's claims in the South China Sea was lacking. Duterte rebuked Pacquiao for the statement, saying the latter lacked knowledge in foreign policy. The President also responded to a claim attributed to Pacquiao that the Duterte administration is more corrupt than those by his predecessors; Duterte challenged Pacquiao to name certain individuals or agencies, otherwise he will launch a negative campaign against the senator in the
2022 elections. On October 1, he formally registered his candidacy under the Cebu-based party
PROMDI. This was in accordance with the "MP3 Alliance" established by PDP Laban under Pacquiao's faction with PROMDI, and the People's Champ Movement. Cusi, in response to Pacquiao's filing of candidacy under PROMDI, decided that he is no longer a member of PDP-Laban. His platforms included solving corruption and a promise of nationwide housing projects for the poor. Since the campaign period started in February, he had struggled in the presidential surveys with low ratings ranking fourth to fifth among the candidates, dropping to as low as 1.8 percent on the March 2022 poll by Publicus Asia and 8 percent on
Pulse Asia with his disapproval rating going up. In March 2022, amid recent news about frontrunner
Bongbong Marcos' unsettled estate tax dues amounting to 200 billion pesos, Pacquiao openly challenged Marcos to a one-on-one debate and made remarks against critics saying "he's not intelligent enough to be president" saying that "the most dumb in this country are those who are going to vote for a plunderer". Pacquiao only placed third in the election with roughly four million votes and later conceded to
Marcos, who won by a landslide.
2025 Senate bid On September 26, 2024, Pacquiao was named as a senatorial candidate for the
Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas in the
2025 elections. He ran under the
Partido Federal ng Pilipinas. He formalized his bid for senator by filing his certificate of candidacy on October 7, 2024. Pacquiao would eventually lose his bid for the Senate, placing 18th out of the 12 seats up for election, garnering 10,397,133 votes. He has considered leaving politics after returning to boxing. ==Entertainment career==