Ping Lacson is ‘dark horse’ for 2016

Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The “dark horse” in next year’s presidential race, former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, has television ads hitting the air waves since the start of the week, courtesy of supporters egging him to once more make a run for the presidency.

There are two versions of the ads meant to bolster awareness of Lacson, focusing on his stint as senator and his refusal to make use of pork barrel funds allocated to senators.

One of the ads showed children singing to tune of “Pen pen de sarapen” and “Ping Ping at disiplin kailangan ng Pilipins.”

In a text message, Lacson, who earlier said he was considering to run for president, said it was his friends and supporters, mostly from the Filipino-Chinese community, who put up funds to produce the commercials, which have aired on prime time.

He said other supporters were printing bumper stickers and other materials to boost the awareness campaign for him.

Responding to challenge

A sample of a Lacson bumper sticker now in circulation said: “Dito Tayo sa Magaling! Ping 2016. No to Corruption. No to Kotong.”

“I think they responded to the challenge to ‘show me the numbers’ that would guide me in my decision on which direction to take in the elections next year,” Lacson said.

But he described the information drive as “disorganized.”

“Disorganized in the sense that it’s a ‘to each his own’ kind of efforts to attain their common objective of convincing me to go for the presidency instead of the Senate.”

Lacson earlier said he would either run again for senator or seek the presidency.

Poe factor

After seeing one of the TV ads during the airing of the noontime television show “Eat Bulaga,” acting Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III said Lacson could be a “dark horse” that could see him being pitted against Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Sotto said Lacson had the qualities of a leader that people wanted, a “decision maker, no political baggage, a decisive person” and not linked to graft and corruption.

But Sotto also said Lacson would have a better chance of winning if Poe did not enter the presidential race. He said if Poe would not run for president, he would support Lacson. But he also said Lacson would not likely run if Poe ran.

Sotto said if Poe would not run, a good running mate for Lacson would be Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“Everything at this time will be, at the very least, speculative,” Lacson said.

Revilla’s plans

A man they call “Agimat” (amulet) has also stirred speculation. Apparently, not even being behind prison bars could keep Sen. Bong Revilla from throwing his hat in the political ring.

Detained for allegedly benefiting in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, Revilla hinted he may still pursue a higher elective post next year despite being dragged in the country’s worst corruption scandal.

“Does the law prohibit detainees from running for an elective post? That’s my question,” Revilla told reporters after his pretrial hearing in the Sandiganbayan.

“There’s no law which bars detainees from joining the elections, right? But I rather [not discuss it] because I might stay in jail longer,” he said with a laugh. “Let’s just wait for the filing of candidacy in October.”

Options open

Asked if he would run for president or vice president, he said: “I’ll keep my options open. Even if I’m detained, I know that my conscience is clean. The truth will come out eventually… at the right time.”

Revilla claimed several personalities had been seeing him in his detention room at Camp Crame.

He declined to say if representatives of political parties had been talking to him, and kept mum when asked if he and detained fellow Sen. Jinggoy Estrada planned to run for elective posts together.

‘Conscience is clean’

Asked if the pork barrel issue would affect his election chances, Revilla said: “If you know you’re guilty, you will not even think of running. But if your conscience is clean, you have nothing to be afraid of.”

Revilla called on his critics to stop their mudslinging campaign.

“I just hope this rotten system in our government will change. I just hope the fight will be fair. Let the people decide,” Revilla said.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano agreed that Revilla’s incarceration would not bar him from running in next year’s elections.

“It’s his right. [He] is still allowed (to run) because he’s not yet convicted,” Justiniano said.

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