Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao has called on government leaders to put a stop to the endless political bickering so the Philippines can fully achieve peace and development.
In a recent video interview shared to reporters Sunday, Pacquiao said the country desperately needs unity and solidarity to achieve victory, whether or not Filipinos are allied with the opposition or supportive of the administration.
“Dilawan ka man, or DDS ka man, lahat tayo dapat magkaisa, hindi tayo dapat mag-away (Whether you are part of the Yellow or DDS , all of us should unite, we shouldn’t be fighting),” said Pacquiao, now president of the ruling PDP-Laban chaired by President Duterte.
“It’s not a good example to the people na we are fighting each other to become a leader. The more nag-aaway ang mga leader natin, the more maghihirap ang sambayanang Pilipino. Maging instrument tayo for peace and development (The more our leaders fight, the more the Filipino people suffer. Let us be instrument for peace and development),” he added.
In the video interview, the administration ally lamented how Filipinos have lost respect for the country, precisely due to corruption in government and the apparent “favoritism.”
“Hindi dapat ganun. Dapat pantay pantay tayong lahat (That’s should not be the case. We should all be equal),” he said.
The Philippines’ boxing icon also said that one of his lifelong dreams is to see corrupt politicians or government officials behind bars and see justice for oppressed poor people.
“’Yan ang pangarap ko sa buhay ko. Mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga tao, ang mga maliliit na tao, ang mga mahihirap na tao (That is one of my dreams. To provide justice to the people, poor people),” he said.
Pacquiao slammed “pretentious genius” leaders who, he said, pretend to be smart by trying to speak good English.
And yet, he said, the country has so many unsolved problems, particularly lack of funding source to support the huge annual budget of the government.
He pointed to the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 when the estimated income of the government would only be less than P3 trillion.
“Common sense ang problema ng bansa natin. Hindi ko alam kung ano ba ang nasa isip natin. Tayo ba ay may utak o wala? Sorry emotional lang ako ha (the problem of our country is common sense. I don’t know if we are even thinking or not? I’m sorry I’m just emotional),” he said.
“Ang tao kasi, (sinasabi) o, kailangan I have to speak good English, I have to speak perfect English to prove that I am a good leader. No, the most important for a leader is this: If you already know the problem, you know how to solve the problem. That’s what we need,” he said.
“And this pretentious genius politician trying to speak good English perfect English to impress people, and that’s what happens to this country,” the lawmaker lamented.