Palace: Maybe Pacquiao was absent when the Cabinet faced Senate over pandemic response

FILE Senator Manny Pacquiao and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque

MANILA, Philippines — Perhaps Senator Manny Pacquiao was absent or preoccupied with other things when Cabinet secretaries presented the government’s pandemic expenses before the Senate, Malacañang said Wednesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque took a swipe at Pacquiao after he named the Department of Health (DOH) when he accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s dare to identify corrupt agencies under his administration.

“Sa akin po, absent po siguro si Senator Pacquiao noong nag-presenta yung mga Cabinet secretaries. Or kung hindi siya absent, he may have been preoccupied with something else,” Roque said in a press conference in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

(For me, maybe Senator Pacquiao was absent when the Cabinet secretaries presented. Or if not absent, he may have been preoccupied with something else.)

Roque said no cases were filed even after DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III previously faced the Senate over the government’s COVID-19 efforts.

“Nanggaling na po si Secretary Duque doon sa Senado. Nag-explain na po siya doon at wala naman pong kasong naisampa matapos yung eksplanasyon ni Sec. Duque,” Roque said.

(Secretary Duque already faced the Senate. He explained there and no cases were filed after he made the explanation.)

“Hindi ko lang po alam kung nandoon nga po siya noong naghi-hearing po ang Senado at kung meron siyang mga tanong na ibinato kay Secretary Duque noong mga panahong iyon,” he went on.

(I’m just not sure if he was there during the Senate hearings and if he asked questions to Secretary Duque at the time.)

Duque admitted feeling “disheartened” over Pacquiao’s “baseless accusations” after the senator called for an investigation on the DOH’s pandemic expenses.

EDV