Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong is rallying behind Partido Reporma standard-bearer Panfilo "Ping" Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, whom he believes are the ones most primed to lead the country in the next six years.
This followed Magalong’s formal endorsement of the Lacson-Sotto tandem in a press conference held Friday (Feb. 18) at the Newtown Plaza Hotel, where he promised that he would do his best to gather more votes for them by convincing his constituents to make an educated vote or #MatalinongBoto2022.
The local chief executive said he would often refer to a study by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), which estimated that pandemic-induced economic losses may hit P41 trillion over the next four decades, as one of the reasons to explain why a vote for Lacson-Sotto is necessary.
‘’On the basis of that, I keep telling them (the people) that we are now in a very, very deep and dark pit. As if, you know, we are now in a quicksand and that quicksand is even in the bottom of a murky well,’’ acccording to Magalong who described the current state of affairs of the country.
Magalong said Filipino voters must realize the potential consequences of their decisions should they choose to maintain the status quo and miss the opportunity of picking more upright leaders like Lacson and Sotto who could steer the nation toward a better direction.
“We cannot afford to say subukan naman natin ito (let’s try this). We cannot afford to say pwedeng (that) trial and error (is okay). This time we have to be very definite. We should not miss this opportunity to choose the right leaders,” he pointed out, addressing the voting public.
‘’Otherwise, we are already at the bottom of the well, and it appears we are digging ourselves deeper into it. In short, we will be in deep shit, so to speak—sorry for the language—if we won’t be choosing the right leader this time. We would no longer have an opportunity to recover. I don’t think so,’’ he added.
In his own way, Magalong has been supporting the advocacies of the Lacson-Sotto tandem particularly their objective of elevating the level of political discourse and campaigning this election period by drawing the attention of the electorate on key issues and not on the personalities.
‘’We’re challenging the status quo here. We’re challenging, we’re setting (an) example. So, I don’t put... We took the risk of not putting up too many (campaign) posters. For some reason, even the politicians themselves feel a bit embarrassed when displaying posters... That’s why Baguio looks cleaner,’’ he added.
Magalong explained that his faith, trust and confidence in the leadership of Lacson and Sotto are backed by his years of experience working with them. He saw firsthand how the veteran lawmakers exemplified fortitude amid the many temptations that come with a position in power.
In his remarks at a dialogue hosted by the Rotary Club of Baguio City with Lacson and Sotto, Magalong attested to the personal anecdotes often shared about the multi-term senators over their refusal to accept lobby money as "gift" from corporate individuals with vested interests on some key legislations.
“If there’s anyone, anyone who is hell-bent in solving, addressing corruption, it is Senator Lacson and Senator Sotto,” Magalong told reporters, who acknowledged the strong influence both public servants had in his own career in government and politics.
Magalong was the Special Action Force (SAF) commander when Lacson became the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP). They also worked together under the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) during the Estrada administration.
A few years later, Magalong served as regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Metro Manila, where he got to work with Sotto who was appointed as director and chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board.
Lacson and Sotto, for their part, welcomed the endorsement they received from Magalong and whatever support he and his followers could give to help them win their respective electoral bids in the upcoming May 9, 2022 elections.