Filipino boxer-slash-senator Manny Pacquiao is a devout born-again Christian who has repeatedly quoted the Bible when speaking for or against national issues, yet he is uncharacteristically chill about President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent ‘stupid God’ remarks.
On Tuesday, Pacquiao downplayed the issue by saying “we all have different beliefs,” as reported by ABS-CBN News and Pilipino Star Ngayon,
“I heard from pastors that they’ll meet with [Duterte]. Here in our country, we all have different beliefs. We respect each other, each other’s beliefs. And whatever [Duterte’s] deeper reason is, we don’t know, that’s why we can’t give a comment,” he said in Filipino.
That’s all well and good except Pacquiao has not afforded the same non-judgemental attitude in other to other issues.
In 2016, he called gay people “worse than animals” during a video interview.
In his “apology” posted on Instagram, Pacquiao said sorry for his remark but maintained his stand against homosexuality and referenced the bible saying, “I still stand on my belief that I’m against same-sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I’m not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God Bless you all and I’m praying for you.”
Pacquiao is also pro-death penalty and last year defended it saying that Jesus, too, was sentenced to death.
“The Bible says do not kill. That means at the time, if you did me wrong, I can’t kill you. Let the authority handle that. We’re not talking about individually, but we’re talking the law of the land, which is approved by God and instituted by God. The government is instituted by God,” he told reporters.
Pacquiao hasn’t always been so open-minded about other beliefs either. In 2016, he proposed a National Bible Day in a country that, at least technically, upholds the separation of church and state.
The boxer, who is busy training for his upcoming fight with Argentinian boxer Lucas Matthysse on July 15, also admitted that he has not actually read Duterte’s remarks.
“I’m not very updated with news on social media. I just heard that he (Duterte) had a statement but I did not read it.”
While he did not run under Duterte’s senatorial slate in the 2016 elections, Pacquiao is a staunch supporter of the president. And Duterte is a Pacquiao fan too — and not just inside the ring.
During the boxer’s birthday party last year, Duterte said he wanted Pacquiao to be the next president.
“I told him one time … it was just the two of us talking, ‘I want to make you president,” Duterte said. “You know what, you can do it.”
Good luck to us all.
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