Newly-installed president of PDP-Laban Senator Manny Pacquiao refused to answer questions on his political trajectory for 2022, saying that the focus should remain on Filipinos who are suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t like to talk politics right now,” Pacquiao said in an interview, responding to a query if he intends to run for re-election or seek a higher office in 2022.
“A lot of people are starving and suffering. ‘Yan yung mga tao na kailangan natin pagtuunan ng pansin at pag-usapan, kasi masama ang loob ko pag palaging politics ang pinag-uusapan sa panahon ngayon dahil hindi pa naman eleksyon.”
[A lot of people are starving and suffering. These are issues we need to focus on and discuss, and it upsets me when all people talk about is politics, especially at this time when it’s not yet elections.]
The boxing champ had also explained his recent statement on regretting entering politics, citing that corruption is something that turned him off once he won a post in the government.
“That’s correct. I regret na pumasok pa ako dito sa masalimuot na pulitika at ang daming mga problema,” Pacquiao said.
“Hindi ko masikmura ang corruption in government, ‘yung pagiging plastikan sa isa’t isa.”
[That’s correct. I regret entering the complicated world of politics; there are so many problems. I can’t take the corruption in government and the inauthentic interactions among people.]
