Pacquiao faces lawsuit, 2016 elections, Sudoku | The wRap

Today on Rappler.

• Boxer Manny Pacquiao faces a class-action lawsuit for failing to inform the public about his shoulder injury.
• Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista announces there will be two public biddings to resolve the PCOS machine crisis. 
• Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shares his Sudoku-solver code via social media. 

MANNY PACQUIAO FACES CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT ON SHOULDER INJURY
Boxer Manny Pacquiao is facing a class-action lawsuit from two Nevada men because he fraudulently concealed a shoulder injury before his defeat to Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Pacquiao told the media after the fight that a torn rotator cuff injury he suffered during training camp hampered his performance during the bout.
The plaintiffs, Stephane Vanel and Kami Rahbaran, argue that by failing to inform the public about his injury
the Philippine lawmaker and his camp violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The suit names Pacquiao, his adviser Michael Koncz, and promotional company Top Rank, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, and president Todd duBoef as defendants.
It claims the defendants “had full knowledge and information that Pacquiao had been seriously injured and was suffering from a torn rotator cuff.”
And that they “know that such injury would severely affect his performance.”
But Koncz shoulders the blame for failing to disclose Pacquiao’s injury
explaining it was he, not the Filipino icon, who checked the box on the pre-fight medical questionnaire, saying Pacquiao had no pre-existing injury heading to his May 2 bout with Mayweather.
Nevada Athletic Commission or NAC Executive Director Bob Bennett says, had Pacquiao’s camp informed the commission about an injury in training
a “win-win for both parties” could have been negotiated.
He says painkillers were not allowed before the fight because it could have numbed Pacquiao to his opponent’s punches.
Mayweather is also facing a $20-million lawsuit from the mother of three of his four children.
The lawsuit stemmed from Mayweather’s interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric before the superfight.
His ex-girlfriend Josie Harris is claiming defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress 
after Mayweather denied the domestic violence charges that sent him to prison for two months.
Instead, he claimed that Harris was on drugs and that he only restrained her.
On the issue of a rematch with Pacquiao, Mayweather says he is open to one next year.
In a text to ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, Mayweather says, “I will fight him in a year after his surgery.”
The Backstreet Boys are also among those clamoring for a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch
saying it should be held in Manila.

BACKSTREET BOYS, BOYBAND: We want a rematch. The Thrilla in Manila Part 2. Hey, next time it needs to be here. Not in Vegas. We’re big Manny Pacquiao fans.

COMELEC TO OPEN 2 BIDS FOR PCOS MACHINES
Newly-appointed Commission on Elections or Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista announces
it will hold two public biddings to resolve an unprecedented crisis before the 2016 elections.
One bidding is “to refurbish and upgrade” the existing 81,000 precinct count optical scan or PCOS machines.
It includes supplementing these with more than 20,000 new ones.
The other bidding is to buy “about 100,000 new PCOS machines.”
Bautista says the Comelec is “starting now” with the bidding process, and will likely choose one of the two tracks by July.
On April 21, the Supreme Court nullified a Comelec-Smartmatic contract for the repair of PCOS machines because it didn’t undergo public bidding
Raising the possibility of reverting to manual elections in 2016.

MARY JANE VELOSO’S ‘RECRUITER’ UNDER NBI CUSTODY
Mary Jane Veloso’s alleged illegal recruiter Maria Cristina Sergio is now under arrest.
Sergio was brought to the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI Tuesday evening where she went through inquest proceedings.
NBI chief Virgilio Mendez says Sergio was arrested after the parents of Veloso identified her as the recruiter.
Sergio is scheduled to undergo a preliminary investigation on May 8 and May 14.
Veloso’s sister Maritess Veloso-Laurente says her sister wants to thank, “President Aquino, President Widodo, the Philippine embassy, the Department of Foreign Affairs and everyone all over the world who prayed for her.”
Maritess clarifies her mother’s controversial statements saying, “She used the wrong term.
What she meant was that we won’t stop prodding and urging the government to continue helping Mary Jane.
Her mother and father thank President Benigno Aquino too
but add they ‘cannot forgive him’ yet.
For now, the Velosos are focused on the case of Sergio and her partner Julius Lacanilao.
Migrant workers’ rights advocate Susan Ople urges the Philippine government to create a special body that looks into victims’ assistance in cases of Filipinos on death row.
There are 92 migrant Filipinos on death row and 3,800 jailed in other countries.

IF DOJ WON’T, I’LL FILE 3RD BATCH OF PDAF CHARGES – BALIGOD
The former lawyer of whistleblower Benhur Luy gives the Department of Justice or DOJ a one-month ultimatum 
to file charges against the 3rd batch of lawmakers implicated in the multi-billion-peso corruption scam.
Lawyer Levito Baligod says if the government won’t, he will file the plunder complaints himself.
Baligod says the justice department is ‘running from its fight against corruption’
The statement comes after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said
the signatures of lawmakers suspected of conniving with alleged mastermind Janet Napoles
did not match the documents in their possession, delaying the filing of the cases.
In a Philippine Daily Inquirer or PDI report, the Court of Tax Appeals lifts the warrant of arrest issued for Jeane Napoles, daughter of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
Napoles’ lawyer Attorney Stephen David tells the court he advised the younger Napoles not to attend the hearing April 29
since she still has a pending motion for reconsideration for the “reversal of the dismissal of their judicial determination of probable cause.”
The PDI says Napoles “personally appeared before the Tax Court.”
On April 29, the Court of Tax Appeals order Napoles’ arrest for failing to show up for her arraignment.

SINGAPORE PM PRAISED AFTER SHARING SUDOKU CODE
A Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shares on Facebook a Sudoku puzzle-solver code he wrote.
Lee describes the program as “pretty basic,” posts a link containing the full printout of the code, 
and invites readers to tell him if there were bugs.
Lee says, “I used to enjoy this… it is a long time since I’ve done anything.”
The 63-year-old Lee is a first-class mathematics graduate from the University of Cambridge in Britain.
The Facebook post on the code has been shared nearly 15,000 times, and had more than 42,000 likes by Wednesday afternoon, along with many comments praising Lee.

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– Rappler.com

 Production Staff