Presidential candidate and Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday disclosed that a supporter of a fellow presidential candidate has asked him to stop “attacking” after he and running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III maintained their campaign against “thieves” in government.
In an interview with reporters during the campaign activities in Batangas City, Lacson said that the supporter of the fellow candidate called him up and made the request.
But Lacson denied he is attacking the other candidate saying he and Sotto has vowed not to resort to “politics of destroying the other candidates.”
He said the Lacson-Sotto tandem will stick to their “no mudslinging rule” and push for issues-based campaign, even after the votes have been cast in May 9, 2022.
“‘Pag sinabi kong galit kami sa magnanakaw, galit kami sa magnanakaw. Wala kaming sinasabing galit kami kung kanino. Walang tao. Kung may tinamaan, hindi namin kasalanan ni Senate President ‘yon, (When I say we despise thieves, we despise thieves. We are not saying we are mad at someone. No person (was mentioned). If someone got hit by that, it’s not my fault or the Senate President’s),” Lacson said during the interview.
“Sabi ko wala akong ina-attack. Ang ina-attack ko magnanakaw, wala akong ina-attack na tao... Habang nasa Baguio kami tinawagan ako, sabi sa akin—taga-Cebu ito e—‘Pre, pakiusap naman ni ano baka raw naman huwag mo namang atakihin.’ Sabi ko, give me a proof na meron akong in-attack na presidential candidate—wala (I told the person I wasn’t attacking anyone. I was attacking thieves, not any person in particular. When we were in Baguio (last weekend), I got a call, and he told me – this person was from Cebu – ‘Friend, please, the other person is asking if you could stop attacking him.’ I told him to give me proof that I was attacking a presidential candidate – there’s none),” the senator reiterated.
He also said some candidates were using his and Sotto’s platforms against them, to fuel black propaganda with a message that they were undermining other candidates.
“Naggagawa ng mga video na ‘yon nga ‘yung tungkol sa magnanakaw, pinapatungkulan ‘yung isang presidential candidate, ang implication, ini-imply ako ‘yung nag-bla-black propaganda. (They were producing videos to the effect that on our spiels against thieves, we were referring to a particular presidential candidate, with an implication, implying that I was doing the black propaganda),” he pointed out.
“That’s not true, I deny that. I saw in the video na nanggaling sa isang Jonathan yata ‘yon, na nai-share din sa amin (that came from a certain Jonathan and that was shared also to us),” Lacson said.
“Kami, wala kaming ginagamit. Pini-present namin ‘yung plataporma, nag-de-describe kami in general terms. Mini-maintain pa rin namin ‘yung aming pinagkasunduan (We are not using anybody. We present our platforms, we describe it in general terms. We maintain what we agreed upon at the start of the campaign). Politics of platform, programs, plans; hindi politics of destroying the other candidates,” the three-term senator added.