A merry mix: Showbiz and elections
‘The election is very divisive, so let’s not add to its divisiveness. That’s my appeal.’
Daily Tribune‘The election is very divisive, so let’s not add to its divisiveness. That’s my appeal.’
Robin Padilla
Photographs courtesy of’10,000 hours’
Alden Richards
Do you know that two movies were made in the past about the life of police general Ping Lacson who eventually became a three-term senator even as those two movies flopped at the box office?
Lacson is seeking reelection as a senator once more and he is doing so without a flop movie to bring him luck at the polls. What he has is the endorsement and support of incumbent President BongBong Marcos. Lacson is among the 12 aspirants that the President supports through the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas party.
The line-up includes the showbiz-famous former Senate President Tito Sotto, the one-time actor in his bio-film, world-reknowned boxer and one--time senator himself, Manny Pacquiao. Sotto has always been a TV host and movie actor (with younger brother Vic Sotto and their close friend Joey de Leon).
It wasn’t until we had to write about Lacson after we were assigned to cover an Alyansa media conference along with other showbiz journos that we remembered that we watched in 2013 the movie 10,000 Hours. It was about Lacson’s escape to another country because he was tipped off that he was to be arrested sometime in January 2010 for his alleged involvement in the murder of political publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. At the time of the discovery of the two bodies, Lacson was head of the Philippine National Police. The crime was dubbed by media as the Dacer-Corbito Double Murder Case.
The investigation and litigation of the case went on until 2011. The Supreme Court in 2011 junked with finality the case against Lacson on the Dacer-Corbito murder.
In 2010, though, Lacson was already serving his second term as a senator. His first term was from 2001 to 2007, the second was from 2007 to 2013, the third was from 2016 to 2022.
Lacson had to flee the Philippines because he couldn’t have senatorial immunity from arrest from a double-murder case, which is not bailable. It was a sensational because names of powerful politicians and officials at that time were implicated in the murders.
Lacson confided to the media in 2013 that 10,000 Hours was based on his fleeing the country and living in hiding abroad — but the film was largely fictional. The film’s title is equivalent in hours to Lacson’s being away from the Philippines for more than a year from 5 January 2010 to early 2011.
He also reveals that the production team paid him an unknown sum for the film rights and let him choose the lead actor and director for the project. The senator chose Robin Padilla as lead actor and Joyce Bernal as director.
The film’s main scriptwriter must have been Lacson’s choice, too. It’s Neil Arce, the boyfriend of actress Angel Locsin (who is in hibernation from showbiz since she married Arce in 2024 November). Lacson once mightily announced that one of his sons is close to Arce. The senator has four sons, including Panfilo Jr., who is better known as Pampi and the live-in boyfriend of former actress Iwa Moto. (Pampi was married to actress Jodie Sta. Maria and they have a now grown up son who is close to his dad and Iwa and their three children).
The movie was an entry in the 2013 Metro Manila Film Festival and it earned the least among the entries. The same is true about the first movie about Lacson shown at the 2000 MMFF: Ping Lacson: Super Cop. It top-billed Rudy Fernandez and Lorna Tolentino under the direction of the late Toto Natividad.
Full digitalization of government processes holds the key to stopping crime and corruption, calmly asserted Lacson at the media huddle.
Lacson highly favors the Marcos administration’s push for digitalization, citing its potential to streamline transactions and curb graft.
“Ako natutuwa sa pronouncement ng Pangulo (na) patungo tayo sa full digitalization. Kapag nagkaroon ng digital government, hindi lang bibilis lahat na transaction kundi mabababawsan ang graft and corruption dahil walang human intervention, puro online (I am happy with the President’s pronouncement that we are aiming for full digitalization. Once we achieve this, we will have not only faster transactions but also less graft and corruption because there is no human intervention and everything is done online),” he said.
Lacson said payment of fees will be done online, which will not allow opportunities for corruption.
He said that while several anti-corruption laws have been enacted, including some he authored, implementation remains a challenge due to human intervention.
He cited the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, which mandates specific timelines for government transactions, but has been plagued by non-compliance.
Another is the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), which was meant to automate the Bureau of Customs (BOC) but has yet to fully materialize.
“I asked Customs officials during a budget hearing to submit their requirements for automation, but they never submitted them,” Lacson recalled.
Lacson also pointed to the Philippine Identification System Act, which he sponsored, to simplify government transactions and enhance crime prevention.
“Many Filipinos who applied for their national ID have yet to receive them because of reported interventions in the bidding and awarding process,” he said.
Lacson and his fellow Alyansa senatorial candidates prefer to stick to their policy of “no negative campaigning.”
“My appeal is for us to help de-escalate the situation instead of escalating it because nothing good will come out of the situation, especially for ordinary Filipinos like us,” Lacson said.
“Very divisive ang ating election. Huwag na nating dagdagan ng divisiveness. ‘Yun ang aking hiling (The election is very divisive, so let’s not add to its divisiveness. That’s my appeal),” he added.
Alyansa’s other candidates for the Upper House who were at the presscon were Abby Binay, Camille Villar, Erwin Tulfo, and Francis Tolentino.
All of them, including Lacson, Sotto, and Pacquiao, spoke evenly, calmly in answering even the most pointed questions from the political journos.