PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday once again endorsed boxing champ Senator Manny Pacquiao as the next Philippine president.
“I ask permission from president-to-be Manny Pacquiao. I’ve already said it clearly,” Duterte said after a long speech during Pacquiao’s 38th birthday celebration in General Santos City.
Duterte also told Pacquiao to “stay humble” and he will surely be elected as the next president.
“You will be president. I think it is true,” he said in Filipino.
“Just keep to your style, stay humble,” he added.
Duterte said he was a fan and a friend of Pacquiao even before he became famous.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is a staunch supporter of Duterte’s push for the revival of the death penalty.
Pacquiao had also praised the President’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.
Duterte was coming off a trip in Zamboanga City earlier on Saturday when he met with wounded soldiers at a military camp.
The President raised his usual talking points, mentioning again plans to cut military ties with the United States and critics of his war on illegal drugs.
He delivered the same message in General Santos City using the same fiery style that has elicited applause from his supporters but has upset the West, particularly the United States and the United Nations.
At Pacquiao’s party, Duterte focused on his personal and national agenda, and made little reference to the birthday celebrant, until the last when he declared the boxer the next president of the Philippines.
In his speech, Duterte said the war on drugs was needed to preserve the country and to protect the next generation.
“I will solve this problem because… being the President, I have to preserve this country for everybody or else we’ll go to the dogs,” he said.
