Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson would still rather run as an independent should he join the race for the presidency in 2016.
Interviewed over Radyo Inquirer on Saturday, Lacson noted that he had run for public office twice as an independent, and recalled that he had a not-so-good experience when he tried to be with a political party.
He recalled that he was supposed to join the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) convention where party members were supposed to choose between him and Fernando Poe Jr. as its standard bearer.
But Poe was chosen without any convention being conducted. Lacson and several others broke away from the LDP and instead ran as independent.
Asked if he’d rather be independent again in 2016, he said that since that incident, “nasira na ang diskarte ko sa partido. Nawalan ako ng gana (I’d rather not strategize with parties).”
Anyway, he noted that in the Philippines, with its multiparty system, politics is personality-based, which is why many independent candidates have succeeded in getting elected.
What’s important is they be popular enough to get the backing of those with resources, he said.
“Many were able to run as independent, without any party, but they still won and they were taken care of by established political parties. The bottom line is you must have the numbers. If you have the numbers, the parties will just come your way. Big supporters will come to you. That’s the practical reality I learned in politics,” he said.
Lacson has yet to decide categorically if he will run for president. He is still waiting for his survey numbers to go up before throwing his hat into the ring.
He challenged the people egging him on to run to help translate even a portion of his popularity as a senatorial candidate into support for his run for the presidency.
Lacson also said he would run on a strong anticorruption platform and would remain transparent in case he becomes a candidate.