The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Pacquiao shocked over militant kidnap claim

-

MANILA: Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao expressed shock yesterday at President Benigno Aquino's claim that Islamic militants planned to kidnap him, and said the alleged plot should not have been made public.

Aquino released a statement Wednesday saying Abu Sayyaf, a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and beheaded a Canadian hostage this week, had planned to abduct Pacquiao or his children.

"I was alarmed when he announced... the Abu Sayyaf wanted to kidnap me. I'm surprised because all Filipinos are my friends. I love them, especially the Muslims," Pacquiao said at his residence in Manila.

Pacquiao said he had responded to Aquino's statement by taking security measures to protect himself as well as his wife and five children, who are in his hometown of General Santos.

"We added security for my family and me," he said.

General Santos is in the conflictwr­acked southern Philippine region of Mindanao, where an array of Islamic militant groups are based and a separatist insurgency has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1970s.

 ??  ?? Pacquiao
Pacquiao

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia