In his visit to Abra province, presidential candidate Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson publicly addressed the issue of political violence that could ruin everybody’s hopes for a peaceful conduct of honest and orderly elections on May 9, 2022.

Lacson acknowledged that peace and order has always been a problem not only in Abra, but in other areas considered as election hotpots.

In a town hall forum organized by his allies in Bangued on Tuesday, April 26, he said he wants to change the culture of electoral violence under his leadership.

The presidential aspirant also called for an end to the "vicious cycle of revenge" between ignorant voters and the bad politicians, which happens every election season, especially at the local government level, by way of unduly taking advantage of each other during the 45-day campaign period.

‘’It’s as if it has become a tradition already, the mindset of the voter is that, they say, this only 45 days when we can exact revenge against these politicians, so we better make the most out of it. Let us take advantage of them in 45 days because they will make us suffer for three years,’’ Lacson said in his opening remarks.

“Ang sabi naman ni pulitiko, 45 days lang ito, magpaloko na tayo ng 45 days kasi bubuweltahan naman natin sila ‘pag nanalo tayo ng tatlong taon (The politician, for his part, would say this is only 45 days. Let them make fools out of us in 45 days because we can always get back at them if we win for three years). Pagsamantalahan natin sila at uubusin natin sila. Ayaw natin mangyari ‘yun. Gusto natin maski paano maputol ‘yung (ganoong) kultura (Let us take advantage of them and we will exhaust them. We don’t want that to happen. We want to end that culture somehow),’’ he added.

Lacson identified this underlying culture as one of the many reasons why our nation appears to be regressing instead of progressing after every election.

It doesn’t help that such practice has been tolerated by generations of politicians who are deliberately keeping the people uninformed, he said.

“Maraming lugar na ang botante nananatiling edukado, hindi ignorante (There are many places where the voters remain educated, not ignorant). But the bad politician, ang mindset niya lagi panatilihin nating mga ignorante at saka mahihirap ang mga botante sa ating lugar, nang sa ganoon year-in, year-out umaasa sa atin (But the bad politician, his mindset is to always keep the voters ignorant and poor in his area, so that year-in, year-out these people would keep depending on him), he added.

For these reasons, Lacson said he is grateful that the provincial and municipal candidates of his former political party, Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma, in the province chose to stay the course and join him in his long crusade against the ugly side of politics in the Philippines.

Lacson is allied with Abra gubernatorial candidate Eustaquio "Takit" Bersamin; Bangued mayoral candidate Ana Marie "Anne" Bersamin, and her running mate Gherald "Ghed" Edaño, who, at 23 years old, has decided to postpone his academic career and pursue a life in public service.

“Natutuwa ako si Ghed nag-iba ng isip. Para bang, sige, iwanan ko na muna ‘yung aking pagiging propesor at tutulong ako rito (I am glad that Ghed changed his mind. It’s like, fine, I’ll put on hold my career as a professor and try to help here). Baka sakaling makapag-contribute na mabago ‘yung takbo ng isip tungkol sa pulitika kanyang mga kababayan dito sa Bangued (Perhaps I can contribute something to change the mindset of my countrymen here in Bangued about politics)," Lacson said of the youngblood vying for vice mayor in their municipality.

In an interview with Manila-based journalists prior to his town hall forum, Lacson said he would make it a priority to fix the peace and order situation in Abra, which has a history of election-related violence.

Lacson expressed hopes that this year’s polls would be generally peaceful for the province.

"I hope we can have a peaceful, orderly and honest election this May 9, 2022 and I hope no one dies. Thank you everyone. I hope our countrymen are safe here in Abra,’’ he said to end his speech.