GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Assassins are allegedly out to liquidate boxing icon-turned-congressional aspirant Manny Pacquiao and incumbent City Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. before the May 14 election, a reliable source said.
In an interview, Pacquiao said he was informed by one of the would-be assassin that a death squad led by a senior police officer is currently out to carry the P1-million contract to eliminate him.
?I have here a report from a reliable source that identifies the suspected police-killer,? said Pacquiao, as he showed The Times a copy of the report sent to him by a member of the Police Maritime Support Unit.
No such information
Meanwhile, a ranking Camp Crame official had cast doubts on raw intelligence reports, which Pacquiao?s camp claimed to have received from police sources that Pacquiao is under threat.
?We have not received any information that there?s a [death] threat on either both parties,? said the PNP spokesman, Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, in a chance interview in Camp Crame.
Pagdilao said that they have coordinated with the Central Mindanao police office to confirm the alleged death threat being received by Pacquiao.
At the weekly Fernandina Forum in Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Pagdilao told reporters on Wednesday that there is no such report of an alleged threat to the life of Pacquiao.
?What intelligence report? The Philippine National Police does not have such intelligence report of any death threat against Pacquiao. But we?re working on such information to verify its veracity. It could be raw information and therefore cannot be considered intelligence report,? Pagdilao said.
The informant, in his report to Pacquiao, said he was present during the meeting where the matter of Pacquiao?s and Acharon?s assassination was taken up at the monthly information conference by the Police Maritime Auxiliary Unit under the 19th Maritime Police Regional Group held on February 28 at the Lions Beach Resort here.
The informant described the point-gunman as fat, 5?8? tall with kinky-hair and a resident of Digos City.
Pagdilao said that once the threat is validated, the police will take adequate security measures, but for now the police are still unsure on the alleged ?intelligence? report, which Pacquiao?s camp claimed to have come from police sources.
?We have a process of handling [confidential] information and we have procedures on releasing it. We will validate [Pacquiao?s intelligence report] it,? Pagdilao said.
Meanwhile, police sources said that it would be impossible that Pacquiao?s opponent would threaten him since doing so would mean a ?political? suicide on their part.
?That?s highly improbable . . . it?s hard to threaten PacMan [Pacquiao] since he is a national figure and aside from this he has more escorts that could outnumbered a small police precinct,? the source said.
According to Pacquiao, the report came from a certain Pedro Pardo, an intelligence officer of the PNP-Maritime Office and an avid fan of Pacquiao, adding that the death threat came from the camp of incumbent Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio with a P100-million bounty.
Pacquiao said he got hold of the report on April 21.
Pacquiao?s allegation was quickly doused by Antonino-Custodio.
?Sa tingin ko, kung may pinanghahawakan nga si Manny, laban sa akin o kung kanino man, dapat kasuhan na n?ya kung sino man ?yon. If it is my father, kasuhan nila,? she said.
?Gaya ng sinabi ko baka impormasyon lang ?yan and therefore raw. If it is a raw information, then posibleng tsismis ?yan. Ganito po kasi, an intelligence report is a processed series of verified information. Ganun po. Ang isang impormasyon ay bine-verify muna natin sa isang proseso bago ito maging intelligence report,? Pagdilao said.
Pacquiao, however, maintained that the alleged threats on his life would have no impact on his determination to win.
?My strong faith in God will protect me from harm. Alam kung hindi ako pababayaan ng Panginoon,? Pacquiao said on Wednesday, a day after the information leaked to the press.
I have already told the President (Arroyo) about the plot and she advised me to be extra careful ?dahil medyo desperado na ang kalaban.?
On Monday incumbent opposition reelectionist Antonino-Custodio, now being contested by Pacquiao in the First District of South Cotabato, also revealed that she received death threats the past few days.
