Baguio City businessmen and members of the Rotary Club International District 3790 Cluster 1C applauded the plans and programs presented by Partido Reporma presidential candidate Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and running mate Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and hoped they would bring the change the country needs as its potential next top leaders.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong introduced the Lacson-Sotto tandem to a dialogue with Rotarians and the media. He also endorsed them as the country’s next president and vice president.
Magalong said the progress experienced by the Summer Capital of the Philippines over the last three years could be replicated across the country once Filipinos give the two longtime public servants the mandate to lead them in the next six years.
In the forum at Newtown Hotel, Lacson again underscored his and Sotto’s platform of "Aayusin ang Gobyerno at Uubusin ang Magnanakaw" (‘Fix the Government" and "Get Rid of the Thieves’), as he stressed his deep roots in Baguio as a cavalier at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) over 50 years ago and his professional and personal ties with Magalong in the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The veteran lawmakers then gamely answered questions from Rotarians and the media on a broad range of issues from political appointees to the mining industry and the digitalization of government services.
They also discussed how Baguio City could be a model for the rest of the country in terms of developing areas away from so-called “Imperial Manila", as the Lacson-Sotto duo emphasized their flagship platform BRAVE (Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment).
Lacson stressed that the May 9 national elections are crucial not only for Baguio’s business and civic leaders, but also for the rest of the country, which might suffer again under six years of bad governance.
He gave a hypothetical scenario of a 35-year-old man with a young family, and how that family would be changed for the better or worse once the next administration ends its term in 2028.
“If that man had a five-year-old child now, what would that child see in six years? That’s why when we vote, we should think not just of ourselves but of our children, and for their children,” the three-term senator added.
Lacson and Sotto arrived in Baguio on Thursday evening ahead of the Annual Homecoming at the PMA, where the Partido Reporma standard-bearer received today a Lifetime Achievement Award for his exemplary career as a soldier, police officer, lawmaker, and government official for over five decades.