Sotto: Pacquiao still does his job as a senator

Senator Manny Pacquiao huddles with Senate President Tito Sotto in a file photo at the session hall of Senate in Pasay City. INQUIRER.net / EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines — After boxing champ and Senator Manny Pacquiao won against American Adrien Broner in a world welterweight bout, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III quashed concerns over the work ethic of Pacquiao as a senator.

“Isa sa mga bagay na dapat kasi malaman ng mga kababayan natin eh as Senate President ‘no, alam ko lahat ng trabaho ng mga kapwa senador eh, at nakikita ko lahat ‘yan. Akong taga-pirma nila eh, ika nga eh. Eh si Manny, ‘di nagpapabaya sa trabaho ‘yan, wag ho kayong magaalala. Meron pa ngang iba diyan nagsasabi na ‘Ano ba yan, boxer ba siya o senador siya?” Sotto said in an interview with dzMM moments after Pacquiao clinched a unanimous decision win over Broner on Sunday (Manila time).

(One of the things that the public needs to know is as a Senate President, I know the work of my co-senators and I see everything. I sign their papers. Manny doesn’t neglect his job, don’t worry about that. Other people say, “What is he, a boxer or a senator?”)

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“Ang senado pagka in session eh…nagtatrabaho si Manny, kaya ‘di niyo na dapat, ika nga, mag-isip baka ito (boxing match) lang yung inaasikaso niya. Hindi. ‘Yung tiwala na binigay sa kanya ng mga kababayan natin, ginagawa niya,” he added.

(When the Senate is in session, Manny works, so you don’t have to think that boxing is the only thing he’s giving his attention to. No. The trust that the public gave him, he’s acting on it.)

Sotto, meanwhile, congratulated Pacquiao for his win and recalled how nerve-wracking it was to watch his boxing matches.

“Una sa lahat, habang nanunuod siyempre nini-nerbyos ako, eh ilang beses na kong nanuod ng laban niya,” he said.

(First of all, as I’m watching the fight, of course I still feel nervous even though I’ve watched him fight many times.)

“Congratulations to him, ako’y natutuwa nung nanunuod kapag nakita ko na medyo parang first two rounds pa lang parang natakot ‘yung Broner eh, parang nag-ingat eh, ayaw ma-knock out, siguro ganun ang takbo ng isip, ganun ang reading ko sakanya eh,” he added.

(I’m glad when I watch him and see that even in the first two rounds, Broner seemed like he was afraid and cautious, he didn’t want to get knocked out. Maybe he was thinking that, I read that off of him during the fight.) /je