MANILA – Boxing icon and Senator Manny Pacquiao on Monday admitted in front of fellow senators that he was once a drug user and he regrets that he got lured into the illegal vice.

“Hindi ko dine-deny na tumikim din ako ng mga ganyan pero doon ko na-realize lahat na hindi talaga maganda,” Pacquiao said during a Senate on extrajudicial killings being linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

[I’m not denying that I once tried drugs but I realized it was not good for me.]

Pacquiao earlier admitted in a Reuters story published last week that he had used illegal drugs as a teen.

• READ: Pacquiao used drugs as a teen but backs Duterte

He said his own experience as a reformed drug user is the reason why he supports Duterte’s war on drugs.

“This is the first time, sa buong buhay ko, napakasaya ko sa sarili ko dahil itong administration na ito ang unang talagang head on dito sa problema ng illegal drugs,” he said.

[This is the first time in my life I felt this happy because we have an administration that tackles head on the problem on illegal drugs.]