ANGELES CITY – “Patently anti-Flipino act, conduct unbecoming of a public official.” Thus the advocacy group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement raised its nationalist colors as it decried boxing champion and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s boxing school project in China in tandem with its national government.
Pacquiao announced in a recent interview that the eponymous “Manny Pacquiao Boxing Education Institute” will open its first campus in Beijing. “Nakikita ko na marami silang boxers pero kailangan lang ng knowledge about boxing, and turuan ng basics.
(I see that they have many boxers but they need to be taught the basics of boxing.) I think they can produce also champion boxers,” Pacquiao was quoted as saying. The PGKM said: “Given China’s current grabbing of Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea, Pacquiao may be committing not only an anti-Filipino act but even treason.”
“It just goes to show that he is not worthy of the national accolade given to him by the Filipino people, that for all his lip service of fighting for the Filipino cause, his bottomline is money, wherever it may come, even from those hostile to the Filipino nation,” PGKM said.
“He will sell his talents to those who are determined to beat us, at every chance they can get,” said PGKM, even as the group lamented the lack of reactions to Pacquiao’s “patently anti-Filipino act” from nationalist organizations like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Gabriela and Akbayan.
“They appear to have suddenly lost their usually thundering voices of condemnation against anything they deemed inimical to the national interest,” PGKM said. “We waited for them to speak out but they did not, so we are doing it.”
The PGKM also raised Congressman Pacquiao’s “possible violation” of Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, notably Sections 2 and 4. Stated Section 2.
Declaration of Policies: “It is the policy of the State to promote a high standard of ethics in public service. Public officials and employees shall at all times be accountable to the people and shall discharge their duties with utmost responsibility, integrity, competence, and loyalty, act with patriotism and justice, lead modest lives, and uphold public interest over personal interest.”
“Pacquiao’s act can be deemed unpatriotic,” the PGKM noted. On the other hand, Paragraph F of Section 4. Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees states:
“Public officials and employees shall at all times be loyal to the Republic and to the Filipino people, promote the use of locally produced goods, resources and technology and encourage appreciation and pride of country and people. They shall endeavor to maintain and defend Philippine sovereignty against foreign intrusion.”
The PGKM said: “The Chinese intrusion in the West Philippine Sea is not only an affront to but a rapine of Philippine sovereignty that must be resisted by all Filipinos. For Pacquiao to side with the enemy – no matter if it’s only in some boxing school – goes against the grain of patriotism.”
“Let us stop calling Pacquiao “pambansang kamao” or the national fist, as he has turned out to be no more than a national pest,” PGKM said.
