Manny Pacquiao. AP FILE PHOTO
No other country can interfere with Philippine affairs, neophyte Senator Manny Pacquiao said on Wednesday, reacting to Senator Leila de Lima’s call for the United Nations to come to the Philippines and look into the alleged spate of extrajudicial killings here.
“It’s a very wrong move na gagawin natin no? Walang pwedeng makiaalam dito sa atin, sa problema natin. Sa atin ito. Hindi pwedeng makisawsaw ang ibang bansa,” Pacquiao told reporters.
(That will be a wrong move on our part. No one can interfere with us, with our problems. We should be the ones to take on these issues. Other countries cannot meddle.)
READ: Duterte slams UN for ‘interfering’ in Philippine drug war
He said President Rodrigo Duterte wanted nothing else but what is only good for the country.
“Hindi naman naging Pangulo ‘yan para sa kanyang sarili. Ayaw nga n’ya ng corruption, ayaw n’ya ng drugs. Kung baga ang ginagawa ng Pangulo ay para sa kabutihan ng ating bansa,” said the senator.
(He did not become president just to serve himself. He is upset with corruption and drugs. He does things with the good of the country in mind.)
“Meron talagang dapat disiplinahin dahil may mga matititgas ang ulo e. Ngayon kung sumunod naman lahat, hind naman siguro ganun mag-disiplina rin ang ating Pangulo (We need discipline because there are those who are obstinate. Now if we follow laws, I don’t think the president would take those measures to discipline us),” he said, apparently referring to the President’s marching order to go all out against illegal drugs.
“So pangit na makiaalam ‘yang ibang bansa (It’s not good for other countries to meddle),” Pacquiao added.
De Lima earlier filed a resolution, urging the executive branch through the Department of Foreign Affairs to invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killing and Summary Executions to visit the country and look into the alleged rampant killings here.
READ: De Lima urges UN to come to PH, probe extrajudicial killings
The lady senator was head of the Senate committee on justice and human rights investigating the killings until Pacquiao moved on Monday to declare the chairmanship and membership of the body vacant.
De Lima was replaced by Senator Richard Gordon. IDL