President Rodrigo R. Duterte threatened to campaign against Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao in the 2022 elections if the lawmaker fails to prove his corruption claims against his administration.
Duterte issued the warning after Pacquiao claimed corruption in the government is two or three times worse in the present administration.
He admitted there may still be corrupt officials and personnel in some government office despite his ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
But he said Pacquiao should not issue such general statements.
“I told you before that if you see any corruption, give me the name of the agency and person involved. You didn’t say such things all these years. You were just saying praises after praises [for the administration], and now you will say there is corruption,” Dutete said during his public address last Monday.
“If you will fail to do that, I will campaign against you because you are not doing your duty… I will just tell the people do not vote for Pacquiao because he is a liar,” he added.
Earlier this month, Duterte already called out Pacquiao’s criticism of his handling of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue, which he said was a sign of the lawmaker’s “shallow knowledge” on foreign policy.
He made the statement after he contradicted Pacquiao’s call for a boycott of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) meeting organized by the party vice chairman, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
Duterte is the incumbent chairman of PDP-Laban, while Pacquiao is its president.
During the said PDP-Laban meeting, Duterte was nominated to become the party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2022 polls.
Duterte admitted he is interested in running for VP but it will depend on his running mate for president.
“There are things that I would like to continue, but that will be dependent on the president that I will support,” Duterte said.
Image courtesy of AP/Bullit Marquez