Ping sings the praises of ‘strong-willed’ Sara

Regarded by some as an emerging power broker, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has found a believer in Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.

Lacson sang the praises of the President’s eldest daughter on Thursday, saying she was his top choice from among the country’s young politicians to be the country’s next leader.

Mayor Duterte “stands out” among her peers, he said.

“Speaking of Mayor Sara Duterte, make no mistake: If the next leader of our country will emerge from the young, fresh and new faces in national politics, my top choice right now is Sara Duterte. She is strong-willed, stern, vibrant, progressive-minded and has obviously good leadership qualities,” Lacson said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum.

Track record in Davao

The senator said he was not endorsing her but was just speaking of her qualities given her track record in Davao City.

“I’m just saying that among the known young leaders, if we would choose from young and fresh faces in national politics, I think you can agree with me that we are looking at Sara Duterte. Not only because she is the daughter of the President, but her track record and experience as a local government official in Davao say it all,” he said.

House leadership row

Ironically, a few days before issuing the statement, Lacson warned of the mayor’s alleged intervention in the leadership row in the House of Representatives.

The senator had said that if talks about her role in the speakership contest were true, “it may not speak well of President Duterte’s much-touted ‘strong leadership.’”

The mayor has issued no confirmation that she asked lawmakers to back Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the speakership to unseat Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.

On Thursday, Lacson said Filipinos should reject any influence-peddling by somebody outside the official chain of the government bureaucracy, who projects closeness to the President due to kinship.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an Imelda Marcos, or a Peping Cojuangco, or a Mike Arroyo, or any relative. It is about undue intrusion in some major state affairs in which they have no business interfering,” he said.