‘Pacquiao misquoted on VP issue’

MANILA, Philippines—Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao’s statement in Mexico recently that he plans to run for vice president in the 2016 Philippine elections was taken out of context, according to his lawyer Franklin “Jeng Gacal.

“I didn’t know that he made such a pronouncement because Manny knows that he is disqualified,” said Gacal. “We know that, everybody knows that. We explained it to him a long time ago that he will be only qualified in 2022.”

Gacal said the video of Manny’s statement was cut, removing the portion where Pacquiao mentioned that there’s a pending bill in the Senate seeking to lower the eligibility age for senators to 30 and vice president to 35.

“We were already informed about it. That’s what Manny was thinking about,” said Jacal.

“When we reached Manila and saw the interview I said we are dead, but Manny claimed he was only thinking about it (running for VP) should the proposed legislation on the lowering of the age of eligibility be passed in Congress and signed into law by the President.”

Gacal claimed he was “always the punching bag” and received all the criticism for some of the statements and actions of Pacquiao.