Lacson, Corpus camps now waging war through textin

Unfazed by reports that shady former police officials have used, and may still be using, bugging devices that can simultaneously monitor 500 cell phone calls, Generation Text, or the sizable community of text message senders, are still at it.

A flurry of text messages has been circulating vigorously among cell phone users in the Senate, Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame revolving around the charges of wrongdoing against Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Lacson has been the butt of text message jokes since military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus presented during a Senate hearing on Thursday an Indian businessman who claims to have personal knowledge that Lacson coddled a notorious criminal gang.

Some text messages cussed at three senators for seeking to terminate the joint hearings on Corpus’ allegations that Lacson was involved in summary executions, kidnapping, drug trafficking and money laundering, among other crimes.

The hearings are quickly becoming a favorite afternoon television viewing fare for many Filipinos.

Other text messages urged recipients to join anti-Lacson groups such as Get Lacson Out of the Way (GLOW), Alisin si Lacson Kaagad (ALAK), Upakan si Lacson Ngayon (ULAN) and Bayan Ayaw kay Lacson (BAKLA).

But some of the jokes were downright corny; others verged on the tasteless or patently criminal.

For instance, one message read: "Members of the (communist hit squad) Alex Boncayao Brigade are looking for the addresses of the Court of Appeals justices who voted for Ping."

The message was referring to the four CA justices who voted to disallow the re-opening of the case involving the supposed summary executions of the Kuratong Baleleng gang, the very gang Lacson allegedly used to conduct kidnappings to raise election funds.

But the text messages were not all against Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the controversial Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) which has been linked to a string of high-profile crimes.

Some messages also picked on Corpus, who defected to the communist New People’s Army in the early 1970s and even became a member of the NPA central committee.

The anti-Corpus messages first praised Corpus for his anti-crime stance but later warned against the rise of communists in the government.

Oddly enough, the text messages were creative variations on the charges both Lacson and Corpus have been hurling at each other since Lacson won a seat in the Senate in the last congressional election.

But other persons involved in the unfolding drama appear to be fair game for Generation Text.

Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda, who was accused of purchasing 1,000 smuggled cellphones from a former PAOCTF agent, was among them.

Legarda’s accuser was no less than Corpus’ star witness Angelo "Ador" Mawanay who was even detained at the Senate for a weekend for failing to substantiate his charges.

According to the text joke, Legarda flared up at her husband, former Batangas Gov. Tony Leviste, one morning for saying: "I love you and I ADOR you."

Another text joke referred to Mawanay and his "well-endowed" chin: Tanong: Bakit pinakyaw ni Sen. Loren Legarda ang sangkatutak na cellphones kay ADOR? Sagot: Kasi basta galing kay Ador, ang presyo ay ma-BABA (Question: Why did Senator Legarda buy cellphones wholesale from Ador? Answer: As long as it’s from Ador, the price is low)!"