Presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson warned that tight discipline awaits future Cabinet members under a Lacson-Sotto leadership.
Lacson, who has been in public service for more than 40 years, is running in tandem with fellow veteran lawmaker, Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
He said a different brand of discipline awaits Cabinet officials, especially those who will try to engage in corrupt or anomalous transactions.
“If we become President and Vice President of this country, Filipinos may yet witness the spectacle of a Cabinet member-turned-rogue being arrested for extortion. It’s about time we make an example of higher-ranking officials. We cannot fire the small fry just to let the big fish continue to extort,” said Lacson.
“This is the kind of discipline that the Lacson-Sotto leadership intends to instill in government officials,” added Lacson, who was a former chief of the Philippine National Police.
He also vowed to push for the digitalization and interoperability of systems in government agencies to minimize corruption.
He said that while agencies like the Bureau of Customs are computerized, their systems are not yet automated such that human intervention and red tape are still possible.
“If you just change the personnel, they will be lost in their new assignments. Worse, if they get bitten by the corruption bug, the problem starts all over again,” he said.