On Monday last week, Sarangani representative-elect and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao began a ten-day crash course on governance at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Pasig City, amid fawning media coverage. The course, which was custom-developed for the pound-for-pound king, aims to give Pacquiao intensive training on the duties of a good legislator.

Pacquiao the student earned praise on his first day of class. “He came in very early. He really asks very good questions and he seems to have a very good handle on the problems of the province and the issues that he needs to carry to Congress,” DAP dean Gloria Jumamin-Mercado told GMA News. The Philippine Daily Inquirer also lauded him in its June 18 editorial, specifically his decision to go back to school: “Because the public perception is that politicians value money and popularity (which, of course, Pacquiao enjoys to a remarkable degree) as the main qualifications for public office. The notion that a politician will study for the office he has already won is not necessarily new, but it is refreshing.”

By Wednesday night, however, Pacquiao’s focus was already seemingly divided, after the boxer flew home to General Santos City to suit up for a basketball game for the MP GenSan Pacman Warriors, the minor league professional team he owns. He started at shooting guard for the Warriors in their game against the Treston Laguna Stallions, jacking up 12 shots in 14 minutes.

The very next night, he was back on the court against Cobra Energy Drink, putting up 7 shots in 8 minutes, a rate that would make even Kobe Bryant cringe. It was unclear if he decided to jet back and forth between his classes in Manila and the GenSan games, or if he just decided to cut class to play basketball – which is, to be fair to Pacquiao, something that every other male Filipino student does anyway.

But if you’re worried that Pacquiao isn’t getting all the necessary training in governance that he needs, fret not. Last night, after his classes, he jetted off to Ilocos Sur to attend the birthday party of his friend, the province’s governor-elect Chavit Singson, from whom Pacquiao says he hopes to learn lessons in how to govern well. “You should have discipline," Chavit told the champ. “You should study and learn from your enemies.”

Also at the same party, and presumably hobnobbing with Pacquiao, were President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who will be the boxer’s House of Representatives colleague in the 15th Congress, and television host Willie Revillame, with whom Pacquiao appeared in a series of political advertisements for losing presidential candidate Manny Villar.

So yeah, Congressman Pacquiao looks like he’s in good hands, doesn’t he?