Ex-Pinoy wrestler challenges ‘Terminator’ in California polls

A former Filipino Olympian running for governor of California has challenged Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger, another gubernatorial hopeful, to a debate or, failing that, a "friendly" wrestling match.

"Arnold, I think I can take you. It won’t matter which of us wins because, in any event, the California voters will win," said G. Monty Manibog, a 62-year-old trial lawyer and three-term mayor of Monterey Park. He is the first Filipino to run for governor in the United States mainland.

Manibog said while he "has no such quixotic dreams of winning" in a race involving 134 other candidates, he wants to be part of the debate on crucial issues affecting Californians.

"I have sent Arnold Schwarzenegger a challenge to engage me in a debate, without his advisers or scriptwriters around, so that the voters may know where we stand on the crucial issues affecting California," Manibog said.

Should Schwarzenegger, known for his "Terminator" movies, refuse to engage him in a debate, Manibog suggested a wrestling match, the proceeds of which will go to their favorite charities or help reduce California’s $38-billion budget deficit.

"I thought it might be a good thing to give the voters some excitement and entertainment in the heat of battle: two gubernatorial candidates engaging each other as political gladiators," he said.

Manibog believes that challenging Schwarzenegger to a debate or wrestling match "or both will bring an unprecedented no-holds-barred honesty to this gubernatorial election."

He said that while he is old enough to be the Terminator’s father, they have many things in common. Both men are foreign-born — Manibog in the Philippines and Schwarzenegger in Austria — but Manibog, who has been practicing law in the United States for the past 40 years, said in his letter to the actor, "people tell me I speak better English than you."

Schwarzenegger is a five-time Mr. Universe winner, but Manibog is no slouch on the wrestling mat. While he did not wrestle competitively for 40 years since he competed in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, he has won gold medals in recent years in the State Senior Olympics held annually in Pasadena, California.

He was also national gymnastics champion in 1951 and 1952.

According to Mercury, a magazine of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Manibog stays in shape by wrestling with his sons and by following a regular physical fitness program.

Manibog works out three or four times a week for about two hours, starting with a Stairmaster. He then attends the club’s abdominal class and does pull-ups and push-ups before lifting weights.

He often does stretching and tumbling exercises, which he claims keeps his body "supple, spry and flexible."

Manibog said he ran for governor to send a strong message to "the powers that be" that there are clusters of voters who need to be heard and recognized.

"If enough of our kababayans cast their vote for me, along with other Asian-Pacific Islander Americans, those votes will count in sending that message — that we’re also American voters whose issues must also be looked at and not ignored," he said.

Manibog noted that Filipino-Americans form the largest Asian-Pacific Islander group in California, but professional politicians have always bypassed them and taken their votes for granted.

"There are huge problems facing (California), not the least of which is the fiscal mess we’re in, $38 billion deep. We need someone — not a Terminator, not a billboard model, not a former child TV star or professional politician — who can dig us out of this heap of problems and put California back on track as the world’s fifth largest economy," he said, referring to other gubernatorial candidates.

Manibog, who served as mayor of Monterey Park from 1976 to 1988, said he has balanced his city’s budget for 12 years and "obtained more revenue sources to fund our city’s municipal services" and helped to "win for our ethnically diverse city, a microcosm of California, the most coveted ‘All-American City" national award" in 1985.

He said he also speaks for other California cities whose sources of revenue "have often been raided by the state to cover their own budget shortfalls to the detriment of police, fire protection and other vital services that municipalities must provide their citizens."