Press releases, generally speaking, aren’t worth the effort, often little more than fluff pieces for the relevant fighters with a bit of hyperbole thrown in for good measure. Every once in a while, though, the self-aggrandizement hits a critical level and the results are horrifying. We saw it earlier this year with the Eubanks and, recently, got another one from Manny Pacquiao.
The folks over at Deadspin decided to take a closer look at Team Pacquiao’s October 26th release, ostensibly covering a media workout, and found a list of Pacquiao’s senate committees and filed bills among it. Said bills are a bit, well, horrific.
"Pac-Man," who’s been outspoken about his support for the death penalty and even joked about hanging offenders, authored this bill, titled:
Highlights include:
- Life imprisonment or the death penalty for those in any way facilitating the importation of any type of opium "even for floral, decorative and culinary purposes." As Deadspin points out, poppy seed bagels would become lethal contraband.
- Life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone who "shall maintain a den, dive or resort where any dangerous drug is used, given away or sold in any form."
- Life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone who "manufactures any controlled precursor and essential chemical."
- Life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone who acts as a "protector/coddler of any violator" of the above section.
- Life imprisonment or the death penalty for even HAVING 500 grams of marijuana. Ecstasy, LSD, and morphine have a maximum of ten grams before your life is over.
Manny’s confusion between "or" and "and’ are in the original filing.
The sad thing is, this is pretty in line with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whom Pacquiao supports. Duterte has compared himself favorably to Adolf Hitler, expressing a desire to "slaughter" millions of drug addicts, and his extrajudicial killings claimed nearly forty lives a day as of September.
Duterte also joked about wanting a turn in a gang rape, the victim of which was then murdered.
The dumb shit Manny said about gay people doesn’t look so bad now in comparison, so at least he’s got that going for him.