Senator Manny Pacquiao with President Rodrigo Duterte. FILE PHOTO FROM DUTERTE’S FACEBOOK PAGE
President Rodrigo Duterte made another push for the reimposition of the death penalty when he met Senator Manny Pacquiao in Malacañang Monday night.
Pacquiao said his one-on-one meeting with the President lasted about an hour. He said he sought the meeting to find out the President’s direction and how he could help the government in its fight against crimes and illegal drugs.
“Hinihiling niya sa taumbayan na ‘yung death penalty ay kailangang maipasa na para makatulong din (He is asking from the public for death penalty to be passed in order to help),” the senator told reporters on Tuesday, quoting the President.
“Gusto talaga niya na may death penalty at syempre ako rin, gusto ko rin (He really wants death penalty to be reimposed and of course I do, too),” Pacquiao said.
The senator also backed the government’s drive against illegal drugs, saying he was more concerned if the drug problems would not be resolved, and not on the sudden rise of alleged extrajudicial killings in the country since Duterte’s assumption in office.
Some of the drug suspects, anyway, he said, were killed by drug lords and not by law enforcers.
“Hindi naman ako nababahala (I’m not worried),” Pacquiao said when asked if he was not concerned about the spate of killings. “Nababahala ako dahil may mga anak ako, nababahala ako ‘pag hindi nalutas yung krimen sa droga; napaka-importante ‘yun (I’m concerned because I have children, I’m concerned if crime and drugs aren’t resolved; those are the most important).”
“Now, I realize everything na talagang kaya nilagay si Digong na maging Presidente dahil ganoon na pala katalamak ang droga sa Pilipinas.”
(Now, I realized that Duterte was placed as President because drugs are really rampant in the Philippines.)
“Siguro, sa tingin ko ha, kung iba lang ang naging President at hindi ganito kalakas ang campaign sa pagsugpo ng droga, hindi natin malalaman kung gano kalaki ang droga sa Pilipinas. Imagine kahit na doon sa sulok ng mga barangay ang daming droga so siguro kung hindi naging Presidente si Digong tapos patuloy na laganap ang droga, maraming magiging sira-ulo sa pamamagitan ng bisyo,” he added.
(Maybe, in my opinion, if we had a different President and the campaign against drugs isn’t this strong, we might not know how big the problem of drugs is in the Philippines. Imagine, even in the corners of the villages, there are a lot of drugs, so if Duterte wasn’t President and drugs are still rampant, many people would lose their sanity because of drugs.)
Pacquiao insisted that the President and the police had not violated the law with their intensified campaign against crimes and illegal drugs.
“Katulad ng sinabi ko, si Presidente at ang kapulisan natin, ayaw nilang lumabag sa batas at sinusunod nila yung due process na bigyan ng proseso ang mga tao; at saka katulad ng sinabi ko, ‘yung mga pinapatay nila… ‘yung mga pinapatay ng mga drug lord ‘yung mga tao nila kasi syempre magsusumbong yan e,” he said.
(Like what I said, the President and the police force don’t want to break the law and they follow due process; and like I said, the ones they’re killing… the ones that the drug lords kill are their men because they can report to authorities.) JE/rga
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