Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson says he is a realist, not a dreamer, and the path to the presidency, for him, is a continuing process.
Lacson has ostensibly set his sights on Malacañang in next year’s presidential elections despite his dismal showing in preference surveys, which he attributes to unclear messaging telegraphed to the public as to what position he was gunning for.
“My decision on what path I would take is still a continuing process,” Lacson said in a radio program Sunday, insisting that he really wanted to return to public service and that he would either run for President or senator in 2016.
In the Pulse Asia survey from May 30 to June 5, Lacson ranked last in the survey of presidential candidates, getting 2 percent from 1 percent in March.
In the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey from June 5 to 8, he was sixth in the presidential voter preference poll. But his numbers had increased to 7 percent from 1 percent in March.
The former senator who earlier served as a mailed-fist chief of the Philippine National Police is among the top choices in the senatorial derby next year.
As early as June, Lacson had declared his openness to run for President upon the prodding of his supporters who came out with ads for him on television and radio that continues to this day. The ads describe his achievements as well as anticorruption positions as a former senator and PNP chief.
Disconnect
In a text message to the Inquirer, he said: “I think the disconnect is quite obvious in a sense that while my supporters and sponsors put up ads both on radio and TV, the objective was not clearly defined, or which position we were aiming for. The target audience was left to decide when they listened to the message that we wanted to impart.”
This, he said, explained why his numbers in the latest senatorial survey increased by 9.1 percentage points while the presidential numbers “barely moved.”
Lacson acknowledged the need for his camp to “define clearly our goal in relation to the message involving my track record (as both PNP chief and senator), my traits and qualities as a leader, and advocacy that we want to pursue or advance.”
Asked whether this meant the messaging would say that he was gunning for the presidency, he said “not necessarily declaring that it’s the presidency and nothing less.”
“We will just have to define our goal and see how it plays out,” Lacson said.
“If in spite of our adjustments, the message for the presidency still doesn’t fly, it only means I’m not up to our people’s trust as President of this republic. Then I go back and down to my level of acceptability,” he said.
When the time comes that he has to decide whether he would run for President or senator, Lacson said he would be a “realist, not a dreamer.”
Bigger dreams
He said he had bigger dreams and aspirations for the nation and the people and he believed he could “execute better when I am the decision maker and implementer.”
“I can be more effective, efficient and the most influential watchdog of the national budget if I’m President of the republic than when I’m a senator or a plain citizen,” Lacson told the Inquirer.
In the radio program on Sunday, Lacson said he would continue to go around and hold town-hall discussions about his advocacy to make sure that the national budget was being used properly.
Among others, he is proposing that local government units can make use of P500 million in excess funds in the budget so they can implement projects for their respective areas.
He said that these excess funds could be taken out “without adversely affecting functions and the mandates of national agencies.”
Lacson is one of two senators who spurned allocations from the graft-ridden Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, for lawmakers.
The other is Joker Arroyo. The Supreme Court has declared the fund unconstitutional following revelations that billions of pesos in congressional allocations had been diverted to ghost projects and fake foundations.