Panfilo “Ping” M. LacsonSenator at Senate of the Philippines
Our Guest of Honor and Speaker, a member of the Matatag Class of 1971 of the Philippine Military Academy, is a distinguished servant leader in our country. He is best known for his distinctive motto: What is right must be kept right; what is wrong must be set right – a personal credo he has faithfully observed in his more than 40 years of public service. His rise to national consciousness started when he solved high-profile crimes, including kidnap-for-ransom cases, in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999, he was tasked to head the Philippine National Police, which under his watch enjoyed a revival of its glory days – along with the highest public approval ratings in its history.
In 2001, he earned a Senate seat where he continued to show his no-nonsense brand of leadership. He exhibited his consistent and unflinching resolve, particularly in his call to scrap the pork barrel fund, then known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), as early as 2003 – a full 10 years before the pork barrel scam involving Janet Lim-Napoles exploded in the Filipino people’s collective faces. He also made sure his P200-million-a-year PDAF entitlement was returned to the national treasury. While in the Senate, he also led a sturdy crusade against graft and corruption, as evidenced by the bills he filed and the exposes he made of anomalous transactions that marred our public institutions.
During the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th Congresses from 2001 to 2013, he authored or co-authored landmark legislations, including the Anti-Money Laundering Law and amendments thereto; Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2001; Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007; Revised AFP Modernization Program; Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health; and, Sin Tax or the Excise Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco.
In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international codename: Haiyan) that caused widespread destruction, damage, and death in Central Philippines, he was appointed Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, with the unenviable mandate of unifying the rehabilitation and recovery efforts of government and the private sector. Despite limited authority and government resources, his office crafted an eight-volume, 8,000-page Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan with a P167-billion proposed funding in a
record six months.
In the 2016 elections, the Filipino people again entrusted him with a Senate seat. As a member of the 17th Congress, he continues to safeguard the public interest and fight corruption, particularly by shielding the national budget from pork and other machinations, so it can truly spur inclusive growth for Filipinos. He continues to advance his legislative agenda to initiate programs on budget reform and village empowerment, transparency and public accountability, anti-graft and corruption, and public order and security.
To this day, he remains an untiring, tenacious watchdog of the national budget, making sure dubious congressional insertions and useless appropriations – a.k.a. ‘pork’ – are checked and deleted during plenary debates.
Because of his continued crusade against wrongdoing, particularly against the pork barrel system in all its iterations, the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Government Management, conferred on him last March 27 the degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa - a distinction that inspires him to remain committed to excellence in public service.
