MANILA, Philippines — Smarting from presidential criticism that he was an “ignorant crusader,” Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he shared President Rodrigo Duterte’s passion against corruption and thought he was complementing the Chief Executive on the issue.
“The President says he is fighting corruption. I also say I am on a crusade in exposing corruption in government,” Lacson said in a statement on Wednesday.
“If we are not complementing each other in this regard, there must be a problem somewhere,” he said.
Lacson also posted a link to a report on the President’s opinion that policemen could legally accept gifts given to them in gratitude and asked, “Is this not graft, Mr. President? Pray tell, who is ignorant?”
The President went off against Lacson on Tuesday night, claiming the senator had a penchant for speaking on every issue and was trying to be a crusader but ignorant.
He cautioned Lacson to be more circumspect particularly because the senator wants to run for President.
“I would caution him to be more circumspect because his opponents can use that someday,” the President said.
The President also urged Lacson, whom he called “his friend,” to brush up on the law.
But Lacson, who was a law enforcer for 30 years and twice elected lawmaker, said he only commented on issues he knew about.
“Aside from my Twitter posts, I only comment on issues when asked, and not even all the time. I play ‘dedma’ [unaware] when I am not familiar with the issue,” the senator said.
“I may not be a lawyer, but I know how to read and understand the law that I read, or ask my lawyer-staff when I don’t,” he added.
As for his purported plan to run for President, Lacson said: “I am not even sure if I want to run for President, so I do not know what he is talking about.”