Lacson to catch ‘big fish’ in fight vs corruption

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Any anticorruption drive by the government is bound to fail if it only goes after the small fry but leaves the “big fish” unscathed, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Tuesday, citing this was one of the reforms he intended to undertake should he win as president in next year’s elections.

Lacson warned that his campaign against corruption would be more focused on the higher rungs of government, believing this would be a better deterrent to the prevalence of graft and corruption.

“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,” Lacson said on Twitter.

According to Lacson, this is the kind of discipline that his tandem with Senate President Vicente Sotto III, his running mate in the 2022 elections, seeks to instill in government officials.

In a radio interview, Lacson said the only means by which the country’s next administration would succeed in dismantling the culture of corruption in the government is through “leadership by example,” and “sustained and consistent” application of political will.

Seemed to falter

Without specifying names, Lacson expressed dismay at how the government’s anticorruption campaign seemed to falter when those close to the powers-that-be are implicated.

“There must be a single standard of leadership, applicable to all; unlike what we have seen in the past, the treatment will vary when someone close is involved, like someone who has helped a politician in the elections,” he said.

According to Lacson, a typical practice among unscrupulous personnel in the bureaucracy these days is to observe a wait-and-see attitude in the first few months after a new head holds office.

‘Just for a show’

“They may try to stop their corrupt activities for a few months, just trying to have a feel of the new boss. But once they see that any anticorruption campaign is just for a show, and will eventually resort to backsliding, it won’t work,” he said.

“When the people in the bureaucracy see double standards, forget it, because all that every [corrupt official] tries to do is to just suck it up with their superiors and they can go on,” he added.

Lacson earlier expressed dismay at how President Duterte’s iron-fisted approach against any “whiff of corruption” in government fizzled out when those close to him got involved, the latest of which is the ongoing investigation of the irregularities surrounding the use of P67.3 billion for the government’s pandemic response.

“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,” he said.

According to Lacson, his track record of having held various government positions can attest to his pledge to fight graft and corruption in the bureaucracy.

“I can say upfront that [Sotto and I] have not been in any way involved in acts of corruption. Not once did I accept any bribe in exchange for anything, including lobbying funds, I am out of that,” he said.