GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao has warned to send to jail corrupt public officials should he win the presidency in next year’s elections.
He stressed that his anti-corruption advocacy will focus on the imposition of criminal sanctions against erring government officials and employees.
“Corrupt government officials should rot in jail for malversing public funds that could have been used for some development projects,” Pacquiao said.
He urged the electorate to vote for honest leaders who shun corruption and never enrich themselves using their position in government.
He said that if they could not vote for him the electorate should instead vote for another candidate who abhors corruption.
The boxing champ-turned-politician cited corruption as one of the contributory factors that hampers the development of the country.
He also stressed that some P1 trillion of the national budget had gone to corruption which could have allocated for housing projects intended for the poorest of the poor.
He even hinted to go afte ranking public officials who had discreet bank accounts abroad.
Pacquiao was in the city on Thursday to distribute relief packs and P1,000 cash for more than 600 people who were displaced by conflagration in Purok Saeg, Brgy. Calumpang, this city.
Accompanying Pacquiao were his wife Jinkee, mother Mommy Dionisia, father Rosalio, brothers Ruel and Bobby who are both members of the House of Representatives and sister-in-law Lorelei who is running for city mayor.
"We are poor, the people are poor because of corruption. The money that is supposed to be used to finance free houses and free hospitalization for our senior citizens always end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians, " Pacquiao told the crowd who were gathered at the Pacific Bay College in Barangay Calumpang.
In a press conference held later after the relief distribution, Pacquiao said that aside from creating a mega prison for corrupt officials, he would also create specials courts that will focus on handling corruption cases.
These special courts will be assigned with their own prosecutors and judges and would be given three to six months to decide on cases.
“Bawal ang corrupt sa bansa natin. Dapat three to six months tapos na ang kaso para magsama-sama ang mga corrupt sa kulungan, " Pacquiao said.