Malacañang on Tuesday wished the best for Sen. Manny Pacquiao in his upcoming boxing bout against World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Errol Spence, but not without quipping that boxing was the only thing he’s good at.
In a press briefing during the ceremonial vaccination for A4 workers in Central Luzon, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said Pacquiao, who has been contending with President Rodrigo Duterte as of late, was not as good in anything else he does outside of his sport.
“[W]e wish all Filipinos the best of luck in whatever they do best. And pagdating po kay Manny Pacquiao, he is best in the boxing ring and probably not as good elsewhere,” Roque said.
The Duterte spokesman was responding to a question asking if the Palace would send a good-luck message for Pacquiao.
Last week, Duterte falsely claimed that Pacquiao had backed out from his bout with Spence and called him a too old for sports.
“He has a scheduled fight but suddenly nag-back out,” Duterte said. “Probably he knows that he is too old for that. And failing in his boxing career, kung matalo siya, he is a goner, actually,” Duterte said.
Pacquiao recently vowed to expose corruption within the administration and has since drawn the ire of Duterte.
Duterte claimed Pacquiao only brought up the corruption allegations after he grew impatient waiting for PDP-Laban to choose its presidential bet.
Duterte chairs PDP-Laban and is being pushed by party members to run for the vice presidency. Pacquiao is the party’s president and is also expected to run in 2022. John Ezekiel J. Hirro