Three days before his much-anticipated fight with Shane Mosley, Manny Pacquiao revealed that he will be wearing yellow gloves as a symbol of Filipinos' unity against poverty in the country.
Now, Pinoy Internet users can join Pacquiao in his anti-poverty bout on Sunday through an online campaign launched by GMA News.
With the help of a Twibbon campaign —which has been popularly used in promoting awareness online such as during former President Corazon Aquino's wake in August last year— Pinoy Twitter and Facebook users can display a yellow glove badge alongside their avatars and profile photos in these popular social networking sites.
Users would just have to go to The Yellow Glove Fight campaign page and choose which social networking profile they would like to display the badge with, and it will automatically be embedded onto their photos.
Make #yellowgloves trend
Aside from the Twibbon campaign, online users can likewise draw attention to Pacquiao's cause by helping make the hashtag #yellowgloves become the top trending topic on Twitter on the day of the match itself.
"We are asking users to use #yellowgloves instead of #Pacquiao or #Pacman on Sunday in hopes that it becomes the top trending topic on Twitter—and hopefully generate attention to the plight of those who live in poverty in the country," said Michael Josh Villanueva, senior manager for Digital News Gathering and Social Media at GMA News.
Shortly after its announcement, eager Twitter users have already chimed in on the cause, offering calls of support to Pacquiao's twin fight on Sunday:
Poverty icon
Pacquiao is no stranger to the cause he's trying to fight for, because he himself was born into a poor family in General Santos in Mindanao.
Now, as a world-renowned boxer with 10 world titles under his belt, he has amassed a fortune that has helped pull him and his family out of poverty.
ESPN Magazine pegged Pacquiao's total earnings last year from his boxing matches at $32 million (almost P1.3 billion).
Just recently, he was declared the country's richest congressman, with over P1 billion of declared wealth.
Now that he is in a position of power, Pacquiao said that eradicating povery is now the biggest fight of his life, hence the yellow gloves.
Yellow has traditionally been the color of the late president Corazon Aquino when she ran for office in 1986, and has also been used by his son, President Benigno Aquino III, during his presidential bid last year.
Pacquiao is a member of President Aquino's Liberal Party.
He said he chose to wear the yellow gloves in support of Gawad Kalinga's initiatives to provide housing settlements to poverty-stricken communities all over the country.
Antonio "Tony" Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, reportedly met up with Pacquiao in his Los Angeles residence last April 21.
"[I was] struck with his kindness; [he] shares our dream to end poverty in [the Philippines]. God bless you Manny," Meloto shared on his Twitter page. — TJD, GMA News
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