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If they’re traveling at their expense, then good for them.
“Despite the high price and scarcity of tickets for the mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather Jr. at least 30 members of the House of Representatives have signified their intention to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to watch the so-called ‘Fight of the Century,'” reports Charissa M. Luci in Tempo.
The much-anticipated Pacquiao-Mayweather bout is set for May 2 (US time) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. By then, it would be the morning of May 3 in the Philippines.
According to Speaker Sonny Belmonte, the lawmakers have sought travel authority to watch the fight at their own expense. However, Belmonte declined to name the lawmakers.
Belmonte explained: “All are travelling at their own expense, not a single centavo was used to their trip. Let’s pray for Congressman Manny that he will win this mega-fight.”
The report noted: “Tickets for the fight cost between US$1,500 and US$7,500 (approximately PHP66,000 and PHP330,000), but are expected to be sold at much higher rates in the secondary market.”
The report cited the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which reported that “the estimated 500 of the 16,700 seats that were made available to the public were sold out just two minutes after the announcement of selling.”
The report went on to point out that “a travel agency estimates that if one is to purchase a ticket to Vegas now, the cost of a round-trip fare is about US$2,500 (roughly PHP110,600). If rooms are still available in Vegas, the lawmaker has to shell out a minimum of US$400 a day. Granting that the lawmaker would be lucky to pay US$1,500 for a fight ticket and stay in Vegas for a minimum of two nights, he should be ready to shell out US$4,800 (roughly PHP211,900, which is more than two months’ worth of a congressman’s paycheck).”
Photo by Mk32 (WikiCommons)
