Filipino boxing icon and Senator-elect Manny Pacquiao admitted during an interview with the media that he have always been supportive of Mayor Duterte even before he campaign for Vice President Jejomar Binay. Manny Pacquiao clarified that his decision to stick with VP Binay until the end of the campaign was merely his obligation to honor his agreement with the defeated presidential candidate.
The 37-year-old congressman revealed his inclination with Mayor Rody Duterte as he went to Davao City to meet with the presumptive president and express his support for the new administration which promises a total overhaul of the government system to supposedly improve the lives of every Filipinos from different parts of the Philippines as well as those living and working internationally.
Manny Pacquiao was quoted as saying when asked by the media if he would join the majority bloc in the Senate in favor of Mayor Duterte “Noon pa man hanggang ngayon ang suporta ko na kay Digong (Even before, I have always been supportive of Digong),” Pacquiao said
Before meeting with Duterte, the new Senator-elect challenged Duterte’s running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to a friendly basketball match at the Almendras Gymnasium in Davao City.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao also noted that being called a political butterflies does not affect him and explained why he decided to stay with the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of VP Binay. He was quoted as saying “Eh di lumipat na sana ako noon? Pinakita ko lang sa kanila ‘yung pagiging firm ko sa desisyon ko, na kapag nag-desisyon ka panindigan mo (Then I should have changed allegiances then? I just proved to them that I was firm with my decision, that I was going to stand by my decision),” he said.
Manny Pacquiao also added that he was one of the few individual who fervently tried to convince Mayor Rody Duterte to run for President of the Republic of the Philippines and during the time that the Mayor finally decided to run, he was already committed to VP Binay and his party UNA.
