Lacson tight-lipped on possible presidential run in 2022

Sen. Panfilo Lacson. (File photo by JAM STA. ROSA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Is Senator Panfilo Lacson eyeing a presidential run in 2022?

“Right now, mahirap sagutin…” Lacson said when asked over ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday about his plans in 2022.

Pressed if he is open to run for president, the senator said: “No hindi ko alam what the future will bring, kung babalik sa Senate, kung magre-retire, whatever.”

Lacson, who won a fresh mandate in the 2016 elections, is still qualified to seek another term in the Senate in 2022.

He ran but lost to now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 presidential race.

His being part of the majority bloc in the Senate does not stop Lacson from criticizing the administration or even President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I react according to my conscience,” the senator explained, confident that the President would understand his position.

In one of their meetings, the President himself noted how he was being criticized by the senator.

“All of a sudden he blurted out, Kaya itong si Ping pag kini-criticize ako pero OK lang para nate-temper din,” Lacson quoted the President as saying.

“Sa kanya pag constructive, okay. Siguro ang ayaw niya ang maski ano na lang ng gawin ko mali na, which is also wrong,” he said.

This was why in one of the meetings among cavalier legislators, Lacson said he advised Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano to sometimes show their support for the President if the latter does something right.

“I think the President will appreciate it more kung maging parang objective yung criticism instead of too personal and too subjective,” he further said. /cbb