Instead of attacking Sen. Panfilo Lacson, administration supporters should even be thankful for his unrelenting crusade against corruption because he is an active partner of President Duterte in the fight to clean the government of irregularities, Senator Manny Pacquiao said on Friday.
Pacquiao said that Lacson and President Duterte have the same enemies and these are the scalawags and misfits in government who continue to cause untold misery to all Filipinos.
The fighting senator made this call after Lacson was put at the receiving end of vicious troll attacks for revealing the sordid details of the multi-billion modus of some Philippine Health Insurance Corporation officials and their cohorts.
Pacquiao said that instead of hitting Lacson, he should be lauded for providing the President unadulterated facts about what is really going on among some government offices such as PhilHealth.
Pacquaio said Lacson had obviously conducted a meticulous research and investigation into the P15-Billion PhilHealth anomaly and his revelations should not be taken as an attack against the President, “but a generous gesture to help him fulfill his promise to wipe out corruption in his administration.”
“Because of his exposes, don’t put Senator Lacson in a bad light. He is just doing his job. We in the Senate, we are just exercising our oversight powers to protect our people from thieves posing as government officials,” he said.
Pacquaio said that dishonest government officials are expected to feed the President with the wrong information to save their skin and senators like Lacson are duty-bound to show the hard facts to prompt appropriate government action.
“The Senate is investigating this PhilHealth anomaly in aid of legislation and can only recommend appropriate government action based on its findings. We are presenting the facts through witnesses and material evidence that may be presented and can recommend the filing of charges if needed. But in the end, it is the President who has the sole power to fire erring officials in his administration,” Pacquaio said.
“It is up to the President to appreciate the recommendations of the Senate and we would not take it as an offense if in the end he sees things differently,” he added.