BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and RAYMOND AFRICA
PRESIDENT Duterte yesterday told Sen. Manny Pacquiao to name agencies other than the Department of Health, which the boxing champion said are involved in corruption, and to refrain from being absent from work.
The President issued the statements yesterday afternoon during the inauguration of the LRT Line 2 extension in Antipolo City.
Earlier yesterday, Pacquiao said he was not attacking the President when he recently talked about corruption. He made the clarification a day after telling the president he is not a “liar” as the chief executive has said.
The word war between Duterte, chairman of the ruling PDP-Laban party, and Pacquiao, the party’s acting president, escalated after Monday night when Duterte said he will campaign against Pacquiao, who has yet to officially proclaim his presidential bid next year, for saying that corruption exists under the Duterte administration.
Duterte, at the launching, said the DOH has long explained the government spending for COVID-19 response, and loans acquired by the government for the purchase of vaccines.
He said Pacquiao should identify other agencies and back his allegations of corruption with evidence. He said he is instructing all agencies to be identified by Pacquiao to fully cooperate.
“Maghanap pa si Pacquiao ng iba. Siya yung may sabi na may korapsyon so it is his burden to identify the office… you know when you are a champion in boxing it does not mean to say that you are a champion in politics. So, he’s blabbering …,” he said.
He said Pacquiao should not just identify the alleged corrupt agencies but also investigate the agencies and prove his claim.
“I will wait… But I expect him to sit in Congress. Do not go anywhere, finish and find out the corruption that you are talking about. If you only report for one to two months, then I would say that you are a sh*t. A sh*t is a sh*t. Do your work. You asked for it, there are the papers. Start investigating, don’t go elsewhere, comply first with your duty as a senator, finish that. The papers are there, do not be absent,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
The President dared the senator to identify the agencies and persons in government who are involved in corruption after Pacquiao claimed that there are more corruption under Duterte’s term than in his predecessor’s regime.
Pacquiao has left the country several times since becoming a senator for boxing matches.
Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, in a briefing form Iloilo City, said the DOH has submitted to Pacquiao’s office the budget spending for the Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2 funds, as well as documents pertaining to the procurement of testing kits, personal protective equipment and the like, which Pacquiao raised when he talked about corruption.
The PDP-Laban adopted a resolution asking the elder Duterte to run for vice president and to choose the party’s presidential candidate in 2022.
Asked if he will run for vice president, Duterte said, “Maybe at this time you can say that maybe, to maintain the equilibrium for all, consider me a candidate for the vice presidency at this time,” he said but reiterated that he still intends to keep his promise to support House majority leader Alfred Romualdez if he runs for vice president and that he will run only if there is “space” for him.
Pacquiao, in an interview over Teleradyo yesterday, said all he wanted was to tell the President was that there still are agencies ridden with corruption.
“I am not attacking the President, baka mali lang yung perception nila, but I’m helping the President. Kasi ang advocacy niya, against corruption, eh katulong ako (I am not attacking the President, maybe they just have wrong perception. I’m helping the President because his advocacy is against corruption, and I will help him with that),” Pacquiao said.
In a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon, Pacquiao said he not a liar as he based his statement that corruption has intensified under the Duterte administration, on the President’s speech last October 27.
Pacquiao, in the Teleradyo interview, said lots of people have been giving him documents to prove that corruption persists in government agencies.
“Mayroon po tayong ebidensiya sa DOH and then not only DOH but iba’t ibang mga department, mayroon po tayo. Bahala na, siguro isa-submit ko yan lahat. Iniipon lang lahat muna… Yung ebidensiya black and white na transaction sa loob ng ahensiya at yun ang magpapatunay na yung mga transaction ay hindi sang-ayon sa batas natin (We have evidence against the DOH and other government agencies. Maybe I will submit them all [to the President in due time]. I am just collating them. The evidence are in black and white, the transactions in an agency which will prove that they are against the law),” he said.
