The year may be ending, but for Partido Reporma standard-bearer Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, a calendar change presents new and better opportunities for him and his campaign team to do what needs to be done so they can turn the political tide in favor of their advocacies.
Although mainstream surveys of late kept painting him as an aspirant with low chances of winning, Lacson remains “strong, unbowed and unyielding,” like the quintessential cavalier that truly belongs to the 1971 Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Matatag” Class of 1971.
Dirty tricks, mudslinging, digital black propaganda and other tactics commonly associated in toxic politics also are out of the question for the tandem of Lacson and Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III.
Unlike other aspirants obsessed with winning, Lacson and Sotto vowed not to capitalize on ridiculous lies, hate speech, and exploitation of public fears.
While both career public servants recognize the tough challenges posed by their opponents based on recent surveys, they vowed to take the high road.
Speaking to local government officials and residents during his recent visit in La Trinidad, Benguet, Lacson said Filipinos must not succumb to a “defeatist” mindset, especially those who only base their voting decisions on bandwagon politics even if it is against their own principles.
“We have so many problems to face. What Monsour [del Rosario] said earlier was right. We are not forcing ourselves on you [the voters] but let us be more discerning, think more deeply [about our choices,” he said.
He was agreeing to a statement made by his party mate and senatorial aspirant Monsour del Rosario, who appealed to their audience to vote wisely in the next elections because it is the present and future generation of Filipinos that would suffer the most if they elect the wrong leader.
He said all of us have a stake in the upcoming elections. “So, let us not say that we don’t care about it because things will just stay the same anyway. If we keep having that mindset, such a defeatist attitude, we will really end up losing.”
In his most recent press conference in Lingayen, Pangasinan, the three-term senator categorically stated he would not drop out from the presidential race and would rather continue fighting the good fight through an issues-based campaign.
Lacson said he understood the challenges he would have to overcome when he made the decision to seek the highest public office for the second time in his political career. Nevertheless, he vowed to be consistent on his messages and would never resort to mudslinging or so-called gutter politics.
“If we have a trademark that we can be proud of, that is our consistency. From the very beginning, we have always been consistent. If we say something, we support that with our actions. We always walk the talk,l he said.
To recall, it was Lacson and Sotto who first declared their intentions to run for president and vice president, respectively, in the 2022 elections, promising to restore public trust on a government they wanted to fix through much needed reforms.
“Fixing the government to improve your life) became their most prominent campaign slogan, which they plan to carry out through ‘leadership by example’ and resistance to all kinds of corruption,” he said.
The longtime public servants are banking on their combined 83 years of track record—42 of which were spent in the Senate—and have agreed to rise on their own merits. They said they wanted to win the elections based on their own competence, integrity, and courage.
“We have an agreement. We are talking about the problems of our country, serious problems, which require serious solutions. We cannot keep having more of the same. So, we are on the serious side. And if we have to pay the price for it, so be it.”
Lacson also reiterated his position against vote-buying, saying those who keep tolerating such ugly culture in Philippine politics are clearly not thinking about the consequences of their actions that they are willing to trade brief moments of comfort for six years of misery.
He is also heeding one of the many advices he gave to the Sangguniang Kabataan officers that he and Sotto met in Baguio City last December 17—to “not be disheartened by the thought that others do not recognize your relevance in society” regardless of the frustrations that politics can bring.
When others choose to display their own strength by their numbers, Lacson and Sotto are relying on their quiet confidence that principled politics can still work in the Philippines despite an ultra-saturated media landscape, which normally thrives on political messages that are designed to upset.
“Senate President [Sotto] and I have always tried to reach our goals through our own efforts, where we will only present our own capabilities, because we know we have a good public service track record that we can both be proud of as well as our platforms. We have always been ready,” said Lacson.
Before becoming multiple-term senators, who tirelessly worked on bills and legislations that sought to eliminate systemic corruption in government and make life better for the majority of Filipinos, Lacson and Sotto recognized that the implementation of our laws leaves much to be desired.
For this reason, they are both postponing their plans for retirement to try and help re-establish a better government for the people, one that would not blame them for their own problems but will find ways to provide creative solutions to achieve maximum social benefits instead.
The longtime public servants aim to work on their Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) program, which would institute equitable distribution of public funds among local government units nationwide to spur a more inclusive social and economic progress for all.
With the Philippines facing tough challenges at present such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, mass unemployment, economic recession, climate change, foreign incursions in the West Philippine Sea, among others, Lacson repeatedly appealed to the electorate to take the elections seriously.
Granted that elections in the Philippines are traditionally mired in controversies, where some politicians would deliberately attack each other and resort to making empty promises just to win, the Lacson-Sotto campaign trail refuses to follow such trends in the interest of political maturity and to raise the level of public discourse.
“The fact that we are given the opportunity to explain to you kung what we can do, that’s sufficient for us). If our messages resonated with you that made you believe in us, thank you very much,” Lacson said.