It's now unlikely Duterte would endorse Pacquiao's Eleksyon 2022 bid –Palace

President Rodrigo Duterte had previously considered endorsing Senator Manny Pacquiao's Presidential bid in the 2022 elections, though this now seems unlikely given that their relationship has soured.

"I think it's rather obvious that the relationship between the President and Senator Pacquiao is not as cordial as it was," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday.

"Natapon na po ang sabaw," added Roque.

(The soup has been spilled.)

The President's spokesperson explained that the President had, at one point, seriously considered endorsing Pacquiao for president, along with Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and former Senator Bongbong Marcos Jr., especially if Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte chose not to run.

"Hindi pa naman pine-preclude ni Presidente na, pwede naman dati, ma-endorso pa si Senator Pacquiao. Pero 'di ata nakaantay si Senator Pacquiao," said Roque.

However, the presidential spokesperson did leave some wiggle room for a Pacquiao endrosement.

"Hindi naman po definitely [out] because in the realm of politics, although I’m not a veteran person in politics ‘no, anything is possible," Roque said.

(Senator Pacquiao is not definitely out of his list of people he is considering endorsing.)

President Duterte chairs the PDP-Laban while Pacquiao is PDP-Laban's acting president, a position that Pacquiao was installed into by the party last December 2020.

When Pacquiao took over as acting party president, Pacquiao urged his party-mates to shun corruption.

On Monday night, Duterte accused Pacquiao of erroneously alleging that corruption worsened during the Duterte administration.

The President threatened to expose the senator as a liar if he could not identify the alleged corrupt officials.

Roque, during Tuesday's briefing, said that the last straw that prompted the President's response to Pacquiao was the Senator's claims that the President's policy on Chinese incursions into the Philippine exclusive economic zone were inadequate.

“Sa akin nakukulangan ako doon sa kumpara doon sa bago pa siya tumakbo, mage-eleksyon pa lang. Dapat ipagpatuloy n’ya ‘yun para magkaroon din ng respeto sa atin ang China,” Pacquiao said in an online interview.

In 2016, then Davao City Mayor Duterte said that if the arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines and China refused to honor the decision, he would jet-ski to the disputed territory and plant the Philippine flag.

Duterte later said he was just being hyperbolic. — DVM, GMA News