The Philippines' drug problem is 'beyond imagination', boxing legend Manny Pacquiao said on Saturday in Tokyo, defending his president's controversial anti-drug campaign
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
The Philippines' drug problem is 'beyond imagination', boxing legend Manny Pacquiao said on Saturday in Tokyo, defending his president's controversial anti-drug campaign.
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Pacquiao, a national hero and elected senator, is a huge supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on crime that has left over 3,700 dead in four months.
"The problem in our country is beyond of expectation, beyond imagination. These illegal drugs in our country is really bad," he said at a press conference held by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
"A lot of our government elected officials are involved with this illegal drug," he said, defending Duterte's crackdown which has drawn global condemnation for alleged extrajudicial killings.
Pacquiao, also supports Duterte's call to restore death penalty for traffickers. "My focus is to change our country and the president and I are close together to clean these
illegal drugs," he said.