[ANALYSIS] Ping Lacson’s premature endgame
You wonder why John Nery would refer to his piece on Ping Lacson as the “epitaph of his presidential ambition” but avoid labeling it as the end of Lacson’s political career. It appears that Nery is not about ready to write Ping Lacson off but only do damage control for Leni Robredo.
cRappler is coming out in defense of Leni Robredo after the Easter Sundav event at the Manila Peninsula. Frankly, there was no rhyme or reason for the press conference unless it was for the purpose of letting the public know of how much of a trapo Leni Robredo actually is. But then again, most Filipinos are already aware of that which is why she continues to be a far second in the voter preference surveys.
This was not the first time that Lacson exposed Robredo’s shenanigans. He did it twice last year when he was approached by her emissaries; first by her Chief of Staff reaching out to his counterpart at the office of the Senate President, Tito Sotto and second through Sen. Franklin Drilon. They could not come to an agreement both times because it involved his having to give way to Robredo. Lacson’s point was/is, based on qualifications and experience, he beats the Vice-President hands down and is best prepared to become President.
It would have been a different picture if the Marcos-Duterte ticket did not materialize. If Sara did not run for any national post, Marcos would have a difficult time finding a running mate. The Duterte vote would not automatically switch to him. He would still need to sell himself to that base. This would have resulted in the usual division of votes for what is normally a five-person Presidential race. Lacson would be a viable option if this was the scenario.
This was confirmed by GMA’s public apology to Lacson after her memoirs was launched. She makes mention of how she considered it one of her errors in judgment not to have been able to convince Lacson to join her administration due to the intrigues and innuendoes fed to her by those who were intent on driving a wedge between her and the Senator. This would not have happened if GMA was not thinking of the probability of a Lacson Presidency if the Marcos-Duterte ticket did not materialize.
It is not far-fetched that GMA was aware of the feud between Duterte pere’ et fille because of Bong Go, Alan Peter Cayetano and the Palace clique alliance which envisioned a Go-Cayetano or Cayetano-Go tandem as early as 2018, together with Alfonso Cusi, who has become a power on his own inside the PDP-Laban. Unfortunately, they are amateurs when it comes higher level political power plays. It also did not help that Daughterte, is a force to reckon with on her own. This was why she told her father and his close aide that they do not determine her political fate. She is the only one who does. They did not learn from seeing how she manuevered the ouster of then Speaker Bebot Alvarez, which involved her enlisting the help of GMA and Congresswoman Imee Marcos.
Lacson could actually have been the continuity candidate if only he played his cards right. Unfortunately, he was of the impression that Filipinos would never vote a Marcos back as President and the Duterte political brand would weaken as the President nears the end of his term. Wrong on both counts. Up to now, I cannot figure out why Lacson thinks that his closest rival is Leni Robredo. The two have been trying to outdo each other in obtaining endorsements from past Yellow administrations. You have to wonder what Ronald Llamas and Kim Henares are doing as part of his campaign team. Robredo is the presumptive heir and more liberal than Lacson will ever be which is why it is logical that former officials in past administrations are on her side.
Lacson’s campaign has been set back by one bad decision after the other. He did not think of packaging himself as the continuity candidate who can build on the accomplishments of Duterte. Instead he continued to diss the President with the Senate Blue Ribbon investigation into the purchase of supplies from Pharmally. This was exacerbated by his answer that PNoy is his most admired past President during his interview with Jessica Soho. Clearly, his pulse on the public sentiment is a bit off.
71 has also been a victim of political Judases left and right. His colleagues in the Senate switched over to the UniTeam at the start of the official campaign period. He relied on Tito Sotto’s word that the NPC was behind them only to find out that there was no support to be had because the NPC Senators had gone over to the Marcos-Duterte camp. The same was true with the National Unity Party. Ronnie Puno could not weave his magic in building a coalition to back Lacson because he was doing badly in the surveys.
The most blatant betrayal was Bebot Alvarez’s. As early as January, there were reports that Arnel Ty already pulled back the flow of campaign funds under Reporma. Lacson could not do anything because it would do more damage if he spoke out than if he just maintained the status quo given the absence of any information that Alvarez was switching to Robredo, though the two had begun discussions through their emissaries.
Lacson still had a card to play if only he attended the SMNI debate so he could face off with Marcos. It would have been the perfect opportunity for him to show the public how he stood against Marcos toe-to-toe, in a forum where there were no slumbook questions. It was another blunder to boycott this debate along with the other candidates. Marcos shone in the SMNI series over his rivals and converted soft votes into hard votes.
The talking heads in Lacson’s campaign should have addressed the issue of how to convert the public who votes for Lacson when he is running for Senator into voters for when he is running for President. The basic characteristic lacking in Lacson is communication and charisma. Duterte has both. He can transition from bugoy-bugoy to stern and tough and the average Pinoy identifies with him because of these. In contrast, Lacson is always stern, rigid, hardly smiles and never cracks jokes even on the campaign trail.
This is all water under the bridge at this point. Lacson has vowed to finish the race no matter what. But make no mistake about it. He can still play a role in the incoming administration. It depends on whether will be true to his word that this is his last hurrah in politics.
Lacson actually has a better political future at his age than Leni Robredo will have after this election cycle.
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