About Ping
The Man Behind the Relentless Warrior
By: Dra. Minguita Padilla
Part I: Tough Love
Ping Lacson started school as a "saling-ket". He was not quite old enough to enter the town's public elementary school by regular standards, being one year younger than the minimum age. But his mother wanted her little boy, the fourth in a brood of 8 children (actually 9 children had all of them lived), to make the most of what she knew in her heart, was a brilliant mind. So despite his protestations and the initial misgivings of some school officials, his mother won out, and the little Ping found himself in school where his role would simply be to observe and be as inconspicuous as possible. He didn't even have a class card. "Saling-ket" was also "saling-pusa."
It was during this first year of school when one of the most unforgettable events of his life would take place.
For some reason he can no longer remember, one day he simply refused to go to school. I guess school wasn't much fun when you were a "saling-ket". But rather than give in to his boyish whim, his mother made sure he went, and his hard headedness was met by her incessant spanking. She literally spanked him while walking all the way to school, much to his embarrassment, as this was seen by his teachers and classmates. But once inside the classroom, his teacher paid special tribute to his mother. She told everyone that Ping's mother was to be admired for her determination to make sure her son went to school. His teacher told Ping in front of everyone that he should be proud of his mother.
It was then that something changed inside of the little boy. Pride in his mother took over shame. Little did he know it, but that was his first realization of what "tough love" meant. He became more interested in school; more involved, and more determined to excel despite the fact that he was the youngest in class. He started topping exams, the shy Ping could no longer remain inconspicuous. And by the end of the school year the "saling-ket" was number one in class.
This is one story Panfilo "Ping" Lacson likes to tell his close friends. His mother is the one person who he admits influenced him most in his formative years. And that story is proof positive of the strong, tough, yet virtuous and loving woman who, together with her hard working husband, raised 8 children in the values of integrity and hard work.
The man who would later enter the Philippine Military Academy, become a legend while Chief of the Philippine National Police, and go on to become a distinguished and exemplary senator of the republic; was born on June 1, 1948, as the sun was rising, to simple folk. His father was a jeepney driver while his mother would buy goods in Divisoria to sell at the local market in Cavite. So while many politicians pretend at being champions of the poor, Ping knows what it is like to have been poor. He also knows that being poor need not mean being hopeless. His parents, through their honest hard work, sent all 8 children to school; and all finished college. As a family, they were able to overcome their lack of money with good, old fashioned perseverance, natural intelligence, industriousness, a practical frugality, and a very deep faith.
Today Ping enjoys fishing for leisure. While growing up however, he and his siblings had to often fish to have food on the table. Today he likes to garden and enjoys the serenity brought about by being surrounded by plants and greens. As a child however, he and his family had to tend their garden and the fields, in order to have vegetables and the rice for their meals. They were poor, but through honest hard work, they were never hungry.
Hence he knows whereof he speaks when he says, as he often does in moments of melancholy, that a level playing field is something he and his family had when he was growing up; but is something we don't have today. He knows firsthand that a level playing field, "Patas na Laban Para sa Lahat", is one way to help everyone, regardless of social status, to live decent lives, dignified lives, and hopeful lives. A level playing field, where systems work, where standards of public schools are high, where there are effective medicines and competent health workers in public hospitals and health centers, and where government officials live up to true servant leadership, is the ideal we must all strive to bring back to our country.
He knows what he talks about when he says that the poor don't need dole outs as this only breeds a mentality of mendicancy and dependence, of stagnation; and robs them of the chance for dignity. It is patronage politics at its worse. He often cautions the public that "yung mga pulitiko na malakas magpamudmud ng pera ay siyang malakas ding magnakaw" (Those politicians who are in the habit of doling out money are also usually those who steal the most).
This is why "Patas na Laban, Para sa Lahat" has become his motto, a battle cry so to speak. This is what he would like to bring his people. This is what he believes will uplift lives significantly and genuinely. And if it be God's Will, this is what he knows he can achieve if given a chance to lead the country as its President.
His vision is clear. "Clean up government and the rest will follow". He did it before when he cleaned up the PNP and transformed it into the most admired institution in the country when he was at its helm. He can do it again for the country through the principles and values he learned and imbibed as a child and which he still adheres to as a man; Integrity, Honesty, Hard Work, Faith, and above all, Leadership by Example.