Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao made his way to the Church of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila on Friday to pray and offer his heartfelt thanks for his recent victory in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Followed by large crowds of fans, Pacquiao motored to Quiapo church to pray and later brought the house down in a free concert before huge crowds at one of the country's biggest shopping malls.

Airport authorities set up a cordon to keep the six-time world champion -- widely considered the sport's best fighter, pound-for-pound -- at a distance from the press and the public on his dawn arrival from Los Angeles, amid fears over the potential spread of the influenza A(H1N1) virus.

But well-wishers and reporters broke through to get close to the boxer, who is considered a national hero here.

The large Pacquiao party cleared the airport's thermal-imaging scanners with no signs of fevers, but the health department said this did not necessarily mean they were free from the virus since its incubation period is between five and seven days.

The Filipino boxer, crowned as the new IBO and Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion after knocking out Ricky Hatton, said nothing is impossible with God.

Aside from the win, Pacquiao said God also answered his prayer for good weather for his return trip home.

“O tignan niyo, sabi sa akin may bagyo raw pagbalik ko ng Pilipinas. Ipinagdasal ko yan, ngayon maaraw na (See, they told me that there was a storm when I go back to the Philippines. I prayed for that and now its sunny),” said the boxing champ.

After attending mass in Quiapo, Pacquiao went to San Miguel Corp. office in Ortigas Center.

Before meeting up with the SMC executives, the boxer went to the company infirmary for a checkup.

Pacquiao said he and his entourage have no reason to worry about H1N1 since they are free from symptoms.

“Hindi naman kami dapat mag mask kasi wala naman kaming swine flu. Dapat sa mga linalagnat o inuubo lang yun (We don't need to wear masks because that's only for people who have swine flu. That's only for those who have fever or cough),” he said.

He also said that it was the influenza scare that pushed him to immediately go home. "When I heard that there was swine flu in LA, I immediately went home," he said.

The Department of Health earlier urged Pacquiao to delay his return to Tuesday out of concern that the large crowds that he habitually attracts could help spread the virus.

But fans ignored these public warnings as they turned out in the thousands to watch Pacquiao belt out songs from his own album as well as a cover of American shock rocker Alice Cooper's classic ballad, "I Never Cry."

The Philippines has so far remained free of the virus that has killed more than 40 people and infected more than 2,300 others, but the government, acting on World Health Organization advice, futilely sought a delay in Pacquiao's homecoming.

Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde expressed regret Friday that Pacquiao had refused to heed the government's request.

If anyone in the Pacquiao entourage had contracted the virus "it will be very difficult for us to monitor all the people they have since come into contact with," Villaverde told a news conference.

He said the government is awaiting laboratory results on four people who showed possible symptoms of the flu. Thirteen others had been given the all-clear, he added.

Pacquiao won Hatton's International Boxing Organisation light-welterweight title in spectacular fashion at the weekend, knocking his opponent out inside two rounds. With reports from Agence France-Presse and Ron Gagalac, ABS-CBN News