Sen. Panfilo Lacson Sr. and his wife Alice have been married for 48 years now. In June, they will celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary, on their way to their golden wedding anniversary in 2023.
On iPing TV on YouTube recently, Mrs. Lacson revealed what really made her fell in love with the dashing senator several years ago.
"Kaya nga ako nagka-crush diyan, ang galing galing sumayaw. Hindi niyo alam, sobrang galing niyang sumayaw," Alice said. "Kahit daw sa school noon, palagi siyang kasali sa mga ano ... sa dance program."
But these days, Mrs. Lacson said you cannot force her husband to dance anymore.
Mrs. Lacson also believes that her husband is a responsible partner who is a one-woman man.
Lacson, who is running for Partido Reporma in the 2022 national elections, has committed to fighting various forms of corruption in his more than 40 years of public service in the fields of law enforcement, lawmaking, and humanitarian work.
Sen. Lacson first earned a tough, no-nonsense reputation while serving in the Philippine National Police: solving high-profile crimes including kidnap-for-ransom cases in the 1980s and 1990s; and reviving the PNP’s glory days as Chief, PNP from 1999 to 2001.
During his term as PNP Chief, Lacson led by example as he instituted a no-take policy and a fitness program while cleansing the police force of “scalawags in uniform” (a.k.a. kotong cops) – initiatives that earned the PNP the highest public approval ratings in its history.
When he got his first mandate in the Senate in 2001, Lacson went to work on righting another wrong: taking down the multibillion-peso pork barrel system, which has bedeviled the national budget, the lifeblood of the nation.
Ten years before the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (pork) scam exploded, Lacson already detailed in a March 2003 privilege speech how public funds were pocketed via PDAF.
He also had his PhP200-million-a-year PDAF allocations returned to the National Treasury, saving the government PhP2.4 billion in 12 years.