Senator Manny Pacquiao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao is a resident and a regular sight in General Santos City and Sarangani Province but it never gets old to see large crowds still screaming with joy upon seeing their hometown hero as he went around the city on a motorcade Thursday.
Pacquiao is in General Santos City after a five-day “Trabaho, Pabahay at Ayuda” caravan in the CARAGA region that gave a glimpse of the groundswelling of support for his presidential bid.
After the motorcade, Pacquiao proceeded to the Pacific Bay College multi-purpose gymnasium to distribute relief packs and P1,000 cash for more than 600 fire victims in Purok Saeg, Brgy. Calumpang.
Accompanying Pacquiao were his wife Jinkee, mother Mommy Dionisia, father Rosalio, brothers Ruel and Bobby who are both members of the House of Representatives and sister-in-law Lorelei who is running for mayor in General Santos City.
In his speech, Pacquiao told the fire victims to love and take good care their parents to whom they owe their existence.
” Love your parents. Take good care of them while they are still alive because we all owe our lives to them, ” Pacquiao said in Visayan dialect.
Pacquiao also told the victims that he is running for president to uplift the lives of the poor and the homeless.
Dionesia Pacquiao recalls the days when her family didn’t have anything on their table: “Bawa’t butil ng bigas ay mahalaga. Mahirap ang buhay. Kaya pilitin nating wag masayang para mas maraming makinabang, lalo na ang mga nagugutom.” CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
“We are poor, the people are poor because of corruption. The money that is supposed to be used to finance free houses and free hospitalization for our senior citizens always end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians, ” Pacquiao said.
After distributing relief and cash to the fire victims, Pacquiao had a thanksgiving lunch and press conference before going to the town of Glan to attend the birthday celebration of former Mayor Tata Yap.
In the press conference, Pacquiao said that aside from creating a mega prison for corrupt officials, he would also create special courts that will focus on handling corruption cases.
These special courts will be assigned with their own prosecutors and judges and would be given three to six months to decide on cases.
“Bawal ang corrupt sa bansa natin. Dapat three to six months tapos na ang kaso para magsama-sama ang mga corrupt sa kulungan, ” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao also told the media that he would welcome any unification talks with the PDP-Laban with the condition that Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi will no longer have anything to do with the party.
“What I want is to unite the PDP. Hindi dapat kami magkakaiba ng adbokasiya, ” he said.
“Si Cusi tatanggalin natin siya kasi nadadamay ang iba. My problema tayo sa energy pero puro siya pulitika. Maghanap ka ng paraan para masolusyon sana ang mga problema at mapababa ang presyo ng kuryente hindi iyong puro ka pulitika, ” he added.