Pacquiao on his absence as Sarangani Rep.: ‘Tinatamad ako doon sa Kongreso’

Senator Manny Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Saturday gave a candid answer on the reason behind his being a top absentee in the House of Representatives.

Pacquiao, who was the former representative of the lone district of Sarangani, said he chose to stay with his district to monitor the “Pacman Village” he had established to provide free housing for his constituents.

“Ang binabasehan nilang absent ako noong panahon ng congressman ako, kasi po sa kadahilanan na congressman ako, ay tinatamad ako doon sa Kongreso,” Pacquiao said over DZRH’s Presidential Job Interview when asked to react on critics blasting him for his absences.

(They were based on my absences when I was a congressman, because I felt lazy at that time in Congress.)

READ: 4: Number of days Pacquiao reported in Congress in 2014

“Dahil kapag privilege speech ng isang congressman ng isang probinsya, matagal, mahaba, and then wala naman ako pakialam doon sa kanyang issue ng kanyang probinsya, distrito niya. Minabuti ko doon ako nanatili sa probinsya dahil nagpapagawa ako ng mga Pacman village doon. Doon ako nakatutok, dahil mas mabuti pa tutukan ko ang mga pabahay ko doon noong time na yon, dahil excited ako, masaya yung mga pamilya, bibigyan mo ng sariling tahanan, libre, wala silang binabayaran, nage-enjoy ako,” Pacquiao continued.

(It’s because when a congressman has a privilege speech about his province, it takes so long and then I don’t really care about his issue with his province. I would rather stay in the province because I made my Pacman village there. I was focusing there because I was excited, when I saw that families were happy that I gave them their own houses for free.)

READ:Pacquiao No. 1 absentee in House

Pacquiao, however, said that he only had a few absences when he served in the Senate, claiming he has filed and co-authored a total of 96 bills as a senator.

READ: Pacquiao hits revival of his past absenteeism in Congress

It can be recalled that retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the lead convenor of electoral coalition 1Sambayan, said Pacquiao lacks the competence to lead the country as evidenced by his absences at the House of Representatives and now as a senator.