Serve people first!: Pacquiao

‘After Cebu, NCR mayors urge Duterte to seek vice presidency’

CEBU – Senator Manny Pacquiao, who is also the president of the PDP-Laban, has ordered party members to focus on the opportunity to serve the people, instead of politicking ahead of the local and national polls next year, after President Duterte’s allies urged him to seek the vice presidency next year.

Pacquiao’s statement came after mayors in Cebu and the National Capital Region, who are Duterte’s supporters, urged him to run and they even issued separate resolutions, citing his great strides in the government’s battle against the scourge of drugs, terrorism, insurgency, corruption, and poverty.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who is PDP-LBAN vice chairman; and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Michael Dino, were reportedly among those supporting the move in Cebu. 

Central Visayas and NCR have combined voters of more than 12 million. 

According to the official Philippine News Agency, Cusi held a private meeting on March 10 with Cebu mayors, board members, and congressmen, where they signed the manifesto. At least 18 mayors, three vice mayors, two congressmen and three board members were among those who signed the Cebu resolution.

Cusi said some PDP-Laban mayors in Metro Manila have also passed a resolution pushing for Duterte to run for vice president next year.

“We are now faced with a pandemic with a magnitude so great that it has affected not only our lives and the lives of our loved ones, but also the lives of our entire nation. It has put our economy to its heels and has forced our countrymen to joblessness and poverty,” Pacquiao said.

“I therefore call upon all our party members to focus more on the opportunity to serve. Our countrymen need us now more than ever. There will be a time for politics, but for now the lives and wellbeing of our countrymen should be our utmost priority,” he added.

Those who are urging Duterte to run in next year’s elections did not say whether presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will be his running mate. But political supporters of the mayor have begun campaigning in various parts of the country and put up huge tarpaulins with her photo and markings: “Run Sara Run.”

Last year, Sara thanked the Cebuanos for their continued support to her father.

Even the President has started campaigning for his former aide and now Senator Bong Go, whom he said during a public event, is running for the presidency. Go later denied Duterte’s statement, saying, he never told him he wanted to become president. 

Aside from lying on Go’s political ambition, Duterte also campaigned for lawyer Salvador Panelo, his Chief Legal Counsel, and said he could become a good senator.

Pacquiao said as PDP-Laban president, “I have the responsibility to enforce the rules, promote cooperation, insists on civility and respect, and most of all, to remind you that we are one team, because it is only when we are united that we can stand strong to weather any storm and to face the greatest dangers. God destined as to be leaders to our respective constituents, and by showing them by example that we know our priorities we are sending a strong message that we value them, that we are aware of their needs and we give them hope.”

“But before we can truly solve the problems of the country, we must first focus on ourselves and our beloved party,” he said. 

However, Duterte’s supporters also slammed Pacquiao, saying, he is also ambitioning to become president and may be running next year. He was also spotted recently visiting many areas in the country. (Cebu Examiner)

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