MANILA, Philippines — Consider this a fair warning from Senator Panfilo Lacson for those wanting to run for president in the 2022 elections.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Lacson said Philippines’ next leader will inherit the country’s “bad economy,” territorial issues concerning the West Philippines Sea, the pandemic and the national debt, which could balloon to nearly P12 trillion by end-2021.
“Apply now, suffer later,” said the senator.
The next President will deal with the following:
Bad economy
West Philippine Sea
Covid-19
P12T national debt
Corruption, drugs, peace and order
50% increase in IRA
17.7% unemployment rate
30.7% hunger rate
MUP Pension (P9.6T seed fund)
Low tax revenueApply now, suffer later.
— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) February 1, 2021
Addressing corruption, drugs as well as ensuring peace and order are also among the issues that the next President will have to manage, according to the senator.
The next President, Lacson added, will also have to deal with the country’s jobless rate, which rose to a “record-high” 17.7 percent at the height of the pandemic in April 2020.
In a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia more than a year before the 2022 national polls, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte emerged as the leading contender for the presidential race as she received the support of 26 percent of the 2,400 survey respondents.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that his daughter is not pursuing the presidency and that he discouraged her from doing so because being president “is not a woman’s job.”
The Davao City mayor was followed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Senator Grace Poe, who both received the support of 14 percent of respondents in the Pulse Asia Survey.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso got 12 percent while Senator Manny Pacquiao got 10 percent.
Meanwhile, eight percent of the respondents said they would vote for Vice President Leni Robredo while four percent picked Lacson and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go.