Senator Manny Pacquiao has a message to Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman who’s part of the opposition bloc of the Congress.
In a privilege speech, Pacquiao responded on Lagman’s suspicion on the funds allocated for the “Malasakit Centers” across the country that aimed to help the poor who doesn’t have money to afford hospital fees.
Pacquiao, who’s an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, expressed his sadness over the attitude of some politicians who seem only focused on criticizing the current administration and try to block its projects.
“Masakit lang isipin na ang programa na para sa mahihirap tapos may mga tao na komokontra…. Hindi ko maintidihan ‘yung mindset ng mga politiko dito sa Pilipinas, Mr. President,” Pacquiao said.
“Kasi pagka maganda ‘yung ginagawa para sa mga mahirap, dahil kalaban ka, kokontrahin ka. E nakakabuti naman sa taumbayan. Kaya wala ng progreso, walang kaunlaran ang bansa natin…” he added.
According to Pacquiao, politicians who always opposed the ideas of the government, despite it would benefit the poor should quit public office.
“Yung mga politiko na kumokontra parati sa magandang advocacy, sa mga magandang programa para sa mahihirap, tumigil na kayo sa pag se-serbisyo. Wala kayong kuwenta sa taumbayan,” he said.
“Especially itong si Lagman, laging kumokontra iyan sa programang magaganda. Maka-testify talaga ako na kumokontra siya. Hindi ko alam kung against siya sa mahihirap o para lang siya sumikat sa pagkontra sa gobyerno,” he also said.
Pacquiao said that he feel sad when some politicians are trying to block projects aim to help the poor because he also once experience poverty.
In an interview, Lagman questioned the government, saying that there should be a legal basis for the current administration to fund Malasakit Centers.
“I think there should be a legal basis for you to fund these Malasakit Centers and I would suppose that there is a need for you to investigate and validate the effectivity of these Malasakit Centers… Kindly make a thorough validation and investigation of the operations of these Malasakit Centers because it is like political partisan activity,” Lagman stated.