Radical Islamist Group Planned to Kidnap Boxing Star Manny Pacquiao

The president of the Philippines said an Islamist militant group planned to kidnap boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

According to Newsweek, President Benigno Aquino III said the Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group based in the Philippines, also plotted to kidnap one of Pacquiao's children and had threatened similar crimes against the president and his family.

Pacquiao has a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The stand-out boxer is close to retirement; he is hoping in the May elections to become a senator in the Philippines.

CBN News is seeking comment from Pacquiao, but so far he is not speaking to news media about the report. Check back with CBN News.com for updates.

Pacquiao was the subject of a profile by CBN News Asia Correspondent Lucille Talusan in 2012.

He currently is a congressman and may have the goal of one day running for president of the country.

The Abu Sayyaf is also suspected of beheading a Canadian hostage earlier this week. The group has had several units pledge loyalty to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

"They allegedly even hatched plots to kidnap Manny Pacquiao or one of his children, as well as my sister Kris or one of her children, with the plan to use them in bargaining for the release of their cohorts," Aquino said. "Threats against my own life have been investigated."

Aquino's sister is a famous actress in the country.

The Filipino president said the plots had been exposed by authorities, who he said had been able to greatly reduce the group's threat in the Philippines.

After a ransom deadline passed, Abu Sayyaf is suspected of beheading Canadian national John Ridsdel Monday. If $8 million was not paid to the group, Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead one of four hostages. Ridsdel's head was discovered on a street in the town of Jolo.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would now "pursue" the group that committed this "act of cold-blooded murder," Newsweek reports.

The Abu Sayyaf is currently holding hostage another Canadian national, a Norwegian man and a Filipina woman.

Former members of the Philippine Muslim rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), founded the Abu Sayyaf in 1991. The Abu Sayyaf wants to form an Islamic state in the southern regions of the Philippines and has conducted several attacks against authorities, civilians and foreign nationals.

The group is responsible for the worst extremist attack in the history of the Philippines -- the 2004 bombing of the Superferry 14. One hundred-sixteen people lost their lives in that attack.

Three of the Abu Sayyaf units, along with the group's leader Isnilon Hapilon, have pledged their loyalty to ISIS since the group emerged and formed a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in June 2014.