LP bet confident with Cebuano voters

CEBU, Philippines - “I am not a politician; I never thought that I would be here,” said lawyer and book author Alexander Lacson following his decision to run for Senator under the Liberal Party.

Lacson wrote the book “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country” and the poem “I Am Filipino.”

He agreed to run under the ticket of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III roughly after two months of contemplating.

“I never thought to run for Senate… civil society wanted me to run,” Lacson said, referring to a Pulse Asia survey conducted last August 2009 wherein he ranked 22nd among the 71 unofficial senatorial aspirants.

“Technically, number one ako ngayon and I believe that I am the most trusted,” he told the Cebu media.

Cebu has given the administration the most votes in the previous elections, but Lacson said he is not worried because Cebuanos “are intelligent and discerning people.”

“They can see who is bad…they will vote in the basis of good heart,” he said.

He believes that change and reform can be achieved not only through his writing, public speaking, and promoting patriotism but also in fighting corruption, poverty, and exposing bad governance.

“This is something new and challenging to me and we have to keep fighting for change and reform because the moment we stop fighting, we lose the spirit of democracy,” he said.

Lacson said the notion that Filipinos are domestic helpers is what he wants to change once he is elected into office. An article of a Hong Kong-based columnist had referred to Filipinos as “a nation of servants.”

“We have to build Filipino respectable not only to the people but also to God,” he said.

His other advocacies include education for the poor, employment, family, entrepreneurship, programs and policies against graft and corruption, and protection of the environment.

He also clarified that he is not in any way related to Senator Panfilo Lacson and that he never had met him in person.

“There are doubts in people’s minds…we don’t know if the name Lacson will be an asset or liability,” he said, adding, that in a “political sense”, the family name Lacson implies the people need someone who is a fighter because “palaban ang Pinoy.”

Lacson finished law at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1996 and took post graduate studies at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also studied at the Philippine Military Academy for three years.

His counterparts in the LP Senatorial slate include former Senators Franklin Drilon and Sergio Osmena III, Bukidnon Representative Teofisto Guingona III, Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon, and former congressman Nereus Acosta. —Marjun A. Baguio, UC Intern/JMO   (FREEMAN NEWS)