Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson
MANILA, Philippines — The government has always been reactive rather than proactive or preventive when it comes to a potential porn addiction among Filipinos or the COVID-19 response, according to Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson, a presidential aspirant for the 2022 national elections, was asked by talk show host Boy Abunda what he would do about recent data from adult site Pornhub showing Filipinos watched porn in 2021 for the longest amount of time on average.
According to Lacson, a government agency should have been tasked to focus on the issue already, especially as it may balloon into a bigger problem if left unchecked.
“Dapat meron tayong ahensya ng gobyerno na nakatutok dito kasi hindi na biro-biro itong problema na number nga ‘yong Pornhub sa Pilipinas ano? ‘Di ba dapat may alarm bell na ito sa ating mga awtoridad, na ‘hey, gumawa tayo ng paraan’? Mag-pool tayo ng mga resources, kunin natin ‘yong mga eksperto sa field, pag-aralan natin bakit nagiging ganito ‘yong situation,” he said.
(There should be a government agency that would focus on this because this data from Pornhub is not a joke. Shouldn’t we have an alarm bell by now for our authorities? Who should think of ways to fix this? Why don’t we pool our resources, get the experts on the field, and study why the situation is like this?)
“Marami tuloy ang namo-molestya, marami tuloy mga kabataaan na napapariwara ang buhay. So dapat proactive, ang problema sa atin sobra tayong reactive — mapa-ano pa mang problema, nandyan na ‘yong problema bago tayo tumutugon. Mas maganda talaga ‘yong unahan natin,” he added.
(A lot of people are molested, many are lost. So we should be proactive, but the problem is we are too reactive — whatever situation, the problem has arrived before we respond. It would be better to get ahead of the problem.)
READ: Filipinos spend longest time watching porn in 2021, says Pornhub
Lacson again mentioned that the culture of reactiveness, instead of being proactive, or placing measures to prevent a problem from imploding, was in the full show also with the administration’s COVID-19 response.
According to the Senator, government officials already knew about the COVID-19 Omicron variant’s increased transmissibility from the experiences of other countries but did not do much to prevent it from reaching Philippine shores.
“We learn from the mistakes sa ibang bansa no, balik tayo sa COVID-19: nanggaling sa ibang bansa eh, ‘yong Omicron, galing sa ibang bansa, ba’t di natin na-anticipate, ba’t wala tayong ginagawa. Balik tayo do’n sa dapat, ‘yong leader, proactive mag-isip hindi ‘yong kung ano ‘yong darating saka lang natin tutugunan, ‘yon ang isang napakalaking pagkakamali ng ating leaders,” he explained.
(We should learn from the mistakes of other countries, like with COVID-19 again: the Omicron variant came from other countries, but we didn’t anticipate it, we didn’t do anything. The leader should think proactively and refrain from responding only when the problems are already present. That’s one big problem of our leaders.)
“Naging kultura na eh, dahil nakagawian na. Dapat baguhin natin ‘yong mindset natin sa gobyerno man, o sa pangkaraniwang (gawain). Well, d’yan papasok na nga talaga ‘yong intervention ng gobyerno na ‘pag meron tayong nakitang potentially na lalaking problema tulad yo’ng Pornhub — ‘di ba dapat ngayon meron na tayong ginagawa? May ginagawa ba ‘yong gobyerno?” he asked.
(It has become a part of the culture because we have become accustomed to it. Whether we are in government or doing normal things, we should change that mindset. That’s where the government would enter because if we see a potentially big problem like Pornhub, shouldn’t we act already? But has the government done anything to address that?)
In the early part of the interview, Lacson also recalled that the country’s first COVID-19 cases were not dealt with appropriately by the government, causing infections to increase exponentially.
It could be remembered that senators back in February 2020 criticized Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for the alleged failure of leadership after the low contact tracing numbers despite the gravity of the situation.
“Alam mo ang sagot sa amin? 17 percent lamang ang kanilang na-contact. Do’n nagsimulang kumalat ‘yong COVID-19 eh, hindi tayo marunong maging proactive,” he added.
(You know what they told us? They have only contacted 17 percent. That’s where COVID-19 started to spread. We do not know how to be proactive.)
READ: Senators hit DOH for ‘failure of leadership’
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Lacson is one of the several presidential aspirants aiming for the seat in Malacañang in the 2022 national elections.
In his second attempt at the presidency, the senator teamed up with Senate President Vicente Sotto III. Both aspirants promised to address problems hounding the government today by restoring people’s trust and pushing overall development.
READ: Lacson, Sotto vow to restore Filipinos’ trust in the government
READ: Lacson-Sotto tandem bats for LGU empowerment to pick projects