Senator Manny Pacquiao —JEOFFREY MAITEM
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao is not actively seeking endorsements from President Rodrigo Duterte and from local government units (LGUs) as he is focused on getting support from the grassroots, his camp said Wednesday.
While Duterte’s endorsement would be welcome, Pacquiao’s campaign manager, Buddy Zamora, said they are not actively “chasing” it since the senator was expelled from Duterte’s faction of the PDP-Laban party.
“We are not actively chasing it since we were expelled from PDP Laban by his faction. It’s unfortunate that the people just went out and are wrecking the administration party and now they have come up with no candidate at all to support, no presidential, no vice presidential candidate,” he said in an interview over ABS CBN News Channel.
Duterte earlier said he is not supporting any presidential candidate “at this time” unless there is a “compelling reason” for him to change his mind.
However, Pacquiao himself said that despite the lack of Duterte’s endorsement, he is confident he will get the support of his fellow Visayans.
Zamora added that Pacquiao’s camp is “working at the grassroots” to gather support for the boxer turned politician, as some local chief executives are not yet open in endorsing him.
“Right now, there are some governors and mayors who are not yet open to openly endorsing our candidate because they’re still awaiting the position of President Duterte. But we are working at the grassroots, we go directly to the people for soliciting their votes,” he said.
“We’d rather do it like that than the conventional political game wherein he goes directly to governors and mayors,” he added.
Zamora said they only meet with local chief executives to pay courtesy if they visit their localities.
Pacquiao kicked off his presidential campaign on Tuesday in his hometown of General Santos City, where he vowed he will not be a traditional politician or “trapo.”