Ally says Lacson shouldn’t be asked to quit 2022 race for other bets’ sake

FILE PHOTO: Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.(Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — An ally of presidential aspirant, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday that the latter should not be asked to quit the 2022 national elections just for the benefit of other candidates who are hoping to unite the opposition.

According to former lawmaker and Partido Reporma treasurer Arnel Ty, there is no reason for Lacson, their party chairperson and standard bearer, to withdraw his candidacy despite lagging ratings in recent surveys.

“We in Partido Reporma do not believe that our chairman and standard bearer, Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson, should withdraw his candidacy for President, despite being behind in most surveys conducted ahead of the official campaign season for the 2022 national elections,” Ty said in a statement.

“We likewise disagree with the views of some who say our chairman should quit now that he is lagging in election surveys and give way to another candidate in a bid to unite the so-called opposition,” he added.

Ty did not mention the name of a particular presidential bet, but called out the supporters of the candidate who “abandoned the party and chose to run as an independent to unite the opposition.”

However, it was Vice President Leni Robredo, another president aspirant in the 2022 elections, who decided to bolt Liberal Party, of which she is chairperson, to run as an independent candidate.

Robredo had earlier approached Lacson, along with other candidates, in hopes of forging unity talks between various camps within the opposition. However, the talks failed as all perceived opposition bets eventually filed their certificates of candidacy, respectively.

“These persons conveniently forget that their chosen leader abandoned the party the candidate had belonged to – which, mind you, had supported that candidate for years on end – to run as an independent and form a coalition based on a color different from their old party,” Ty claimed.

“This was the same candidate that initially presented Sen. Lacson with a plan to ‘unify’ the opposition but would then not allow our chairman to fulfill the commitments he had already made to his supporters and followers, having been the first to declare his candidacy for President this election season – showing that this was merely a ploy to gain more power for the candidate’s own ends,” he added.

It was unclear what specific issue Ty was referring to, but there have been calls from netizens supportive of Robredo for other presidential aspirants not performing well in the surveys to withdraw their COCs, and back the Vice President instead.

According to the latest Pulse Asia survey, Robredo got 20 percent of the respondents’ votes if elections were held on the survey period of December 1 to December 6.

While her numbers increased, Robredo was still a far second to Marcos, who leads all presidential aspirants with 53 percent of the respondents picking him.

This led Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez to say that it appears the 2022 polls are shaping to be a Robredo-Marcos contest, as other candidates like Lacson, Senator Manny Pacquiao, and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno lagged way behind.

Moreno and Pacquiao were at a statistical tie with both getting eight percent, while Lacson settled for the fifth spot with six percent of the votes. Despite this, Lacson’s camp remained optimistic about their chances.

Last December 23, Gutierrez said that they remain open to another shot at unity talks, stressing that more than just withdrawing, aspirants may need to actually back Robredo to get near to Marcos’ numbers.

Innuendos?

But instead of sending supposed innuendos, Ty said that the candidates should instead stand on their principles and earn the votes for the May 2022 polls.

“Instead of sending innuendoes through the media, whether traditional or social, to our chairman, we challenge the candidates for the local and national elections to stand on their principles and earn the vote of the Filipino people on May 9, 2022,” he explained.

As for Lacson, Ty said the former’s efforts, together with his running mate and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, have been effective in engaging the public in serious discussions.

“As most of his supporters and critics alike have noticed over the last three months, Sen. Lacson has conducted principled discussions with the public and private sectors alike through Partido Reporma’s “Online Kumustahan” series of dialogues across the country,” Ty said.

“These have been proven effective in communicating Sen. Lacson’s platform of governance, which he hopes to get a chance to execute himself after decades of crafting the laws for our countrymen, with the Filipinos’ mandate of course,” he added.

EDV