Sarah Geronimo has been asked to sing the Philippine National Anthem at the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight on Saturday, Nov. 18 (Sunday, Nov. 19, Manila time) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Although Sarah is already in the US on a concert tour, under US immigration law, she can’t just go on stage and sing the Philippine National Anthem. Sarah needed another working/entertainer visa especially for the Pacquiao/Morales fight. This is because an artist cannot come to the US on a working visa to perform for one show or producer, and later decide to perform, even just one song, at another show, as this would violate her visa.
Vic Del Rosario, CEO of Viva Entertainment, who manages Sarah, did not want to take any chances of Sarah being accused of violating her visa. So when this opportunity came up just days before the fight, he turned to the same lawyer who helped another Viva star, Regine Velasquez (when she was charged with human smuggling by the American Embassy in 2000).
With less than five days left for immigration lawyer and STAR columnist Michael Gurfinkel to prepare, file and get the petition approved, (made even more difficult with the intervening Veteran’s Day holiday and weekend, leaving only two days to get the approval in time for the fight), the Attorney to the Stars was able to pull it through for the singing champ.
Sarah, who once only dreamed of winning a singing contest, will face her biggest international audience ever, and hopes to make her kababayan proud of her.
"I’ll pray very hard that Kuya Manny wins," she says, "I am sure he will. Pinoy yata yan."
She thanks Manny for giving her the opportunity to sing, and Gurfinkel for making it possible to do so on such short notice, and in record time.