President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday called Senator Manny Pacquiao a “goner” and “a sh-t,” highlighting the sharp break between the two erstwhile allies over the latter’s statement that corruption had tripled under the current administration.
On the sidelines of the inauguration of the LRT2 East Extension project, Duterte said Pacquiao, a boxing champion who is said to be running for president next year, should focus on unraveling the corruption he claims has worsened or he would consider him “sh-t.”
“He has been with the government for so long a time as a senator. My question to Pacquiao is: Why are you talking only now? Because you know you will lose, you are a goner. You are a goner, you are truly a goner,” the President said.
Duterte also criticized Pacquiao’s poor attendance in the Senate.
“If you report [for work] twice a month, then I would say that you are a sh-t. A sh-t is a sh-t. You should work — you asked for that. The documents are there, start investigating. Do not go elsewhere. Comply first with your duty as a senator. Finish what you started because the documents are there. Don’t keep on being absent,” the President added.
Paquiao, acting president of the ruling PDP-Laban that Duterte chairs, said he wanted to teach Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, the party’s vice-chairman, a lesson—to follow the rules of the party or leave.
“As long as I’m the president of this party, Cusi, this is a warning to you, as long as I’m the president of this party, you must follow the bylaws, protocols of the party. You must all follow,” Pacquiao said.
He also accused some party members of merely using PDP-Laban as a stepping stone for their own vested interests.
“From now on, I want to tell them, not in my time as president of the party, I want to teach them a lesson,” said Pacquiao in an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.
“I’m the president of the party and you must follow the rules and bylaws of the party,” he said.
“If you don’t follow, then you can move to other parties. If you don’t want to follow the protocols and bylaws of the party then go ahead, join other parties,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the rift between Duterte and Pacquiao was causing a split in PDP-Laban, founded by the late Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, said the President was mistaken in believing that he was attacking him.
“I agree and support the President. His advocacy is to eradicate corruption and my dream in life is to see corrupt [people] in the government in jail,” said Pacquiao.
“I hope he (Duterte) won’t get angry at me because if his campaign is against corruption, I’m helping him,” he said.
Earlier, Duterte warned that he would campaign against Pacquiao if the senator failed to name corrupt agencies in the government.
“I am not questioning your ability, intellectually or what,” Duterte had said. “But if you can’t do that, I will be after you every day. I will expose you as a liar.
Pacquiao accepted Duterte’s challenge, citing the Department of Health (DOH) over allegations of corruption in its management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cusi on Thursday said it would be better for Pacquiao to discuss the issues within the party leadership, suggesting he attend the national council and assembly meetings to resolve all the accusations.
“I can assure you that what we are doing conforms with the constitution and by-laws of the party,” Cusi said in a text message to the Manila Standard. ‘It’s not my personal action. It’s a party decision and it undergoes a process.”
PDP-Laban secretary-general Melvin Matibag earlier questioned Pacquiao’s position as acting party president, saying the party must decide on who will serve as its party president through an election.
Matibag insisted Pacquiao only became acting president through an “appointment” and without any party consultation.
“The move of Senator (Aquilino III) Koko Pimentel to pass the position on to Pacquiao is unclear with the leadership and the members. It is not clear how Senator Pacquiao became acting president,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN TeleRadyo.
Malacañang on Thursday advised Pacquiao that attacking the President was not a “good idea” to gain support for his political ambition in the forthcoming national elections.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said going after Duterte was not Pacquiao’s smartest move, reiterating that his actions were prompted by his political desires.
Roque issued the statement after the senator accepted President Duterte’s challenge for him to give details of his reported allegations there is corruption in his administration, and dropped broad hints that among those he wanted investigated is the Department of Health and its handling of multi billion-peso procurements for the COVID-19 Pandemic response.
“This is all because of politics. We all know that Senator Pacquiao wants to become president,” Roque said in a press briefing.
“To me, this was not the correct strategy because the two of them have a long history,” he added.
Roque was puzzled on why Pacquiao was on the offensive when Duterte had not even named his candidate for president yet.
“The President is awaiting his list of corrupt agencies so the President can look into it and fire people if necessary. He needs to identify those agencies and present his evidence,” he added.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said the Department of Health (DOH) has already submitted the agency’s budget utilization reports to Pacquiao, after the lawmaker cited corruption allegations against the DOH.
“I sent all these reports last night to Senator Manny Pacquiao,” Duque said in an interview on ANC.
Duque said that out of the P45.7 billion that the DOH received from the Budget Department under Bayanihan 1, 98 percent or P44.7 billion was obligated, 93 percent or P41.8 billion of which was disbursed.
This leaves a balance of P975 million.
Duque said that out of the P17.3 billion the DOH received under Bayanihan 2, 87 percent or P15 billion was obligated, 71 percent or P10.67 billion of which was disbursed, leaving a balance of P2.2 billion.
Duque also stressed that it was not the DOH but the procurement arm of the Budget Department that purchased face masks, RT-PCR test kits, and personal protective equipment.
“I talked to [Budget] Undersecretary Lloyd Lao the other night and he said he’s ready to also show the budget utilization and that all transactions are aboveboard,” he said.
There is “zero way that a kickback can go through” vaccine loans as the funds went straight to manufacturers and never fell into the hands of the DOH, he added.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said his department’s Task Force against Corruption has not received a single complaint about the way the DOH has been handling the COVID-19 response finances.
