MANILA, Philippines - A congresswoman and Sarangani province mate of Rep. Manny Pacquiao wants Canadian teen pop star Justin Bieber banned from entering the country for making fun of the Filipino boxing champion.
Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez of the party-list group You Against Corruption and Poverty and five other colleagues will file on Monday a resolution seeking to declare Bieber persona non grata.
Lopez said yesterday Filipinos should feel insulted by the “offensive photos” of Pacquiao the pop star posted on a photo-sharing social media site shortly after the boxing icon’s knockout loss to Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez last Sunday.
She said her five colleagues who would co-author the resolution are Seth Jalosjos of Zamboanga del Norte, Amado Bagatsing of Manila, Antonio Alvarez of Palawan, Alfredo Garbin of Ako Bicol, and Mark Sambar of Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta.
She said other House members from Mindanao would sign the resolution.
“This is a matter of national pride. It doesn’t matter if it is someone as famous as Mr. Bieber or just another foreign national making degrading or insulting comments about a Filipino citizen. We are doing our best to uplift our status as Filipinos, especially in the eyes of the world,” she stressed.
“Manny Pacquiao is not just an ordinary Filipino. He has become an icon and a source of national pride for all of us. Banning Mr. Bieber from entering the country by declaring him as an unwanted foreigner will show how we seriously take our national pride,” she added.
Lopez also said the Canadian teen star “has the moral responsibility to observe proper decorum as he is being idolized by millions of youth.”
She said Bieber showed bias in mocking Pacquiao since the pop idol is a fan of another boxing champion, American Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Bieber made fun of Pacquiao’s loss to Marquez by posting altered photos showing the defeated Filipino boxing icon.
One of the photos had the congressman-champion boxer doing Michael Jackson’s signature leaning dance move.
In Washington, police authorities have foiled a plot to kill Bieber and possibly castrate him with pruning shears with the arrest of two suspects.
The Canadian’s handlers said they took their client’s safety seriously.