Panfilo Lacson

Panfilo "Ping" Morena Lacson Sr. (born June 1, 1948) is a Filipino former politician and police general who served as a Senator for three terms: from 2001 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022.

Panfilo Morena Lacson was born in Imus, Cavite on June 1, 1948.

His late mother, Maxima, a market vendor, was a disciplinarian who instilled distinctions between right and wrong with her children.

He finished grade school at the Bayan Luma Elementary School in 1960 and high school at the Imus Institute in 1964.

While Lacson initially wanted to be an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, he was invited by a classmate to take the entrance exams at the Philippine Military Academy.

Lacson passed but the classmate who invited him did not.

After his graduation from the PMA in 1971, Lacson was commissioned in the Philippine Constabulary (PC), then a major service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) responsible for maintaining peace and order and enforcement of laws in the country.

Lacson worked at the Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command (Metrocom)'s Intelligence and Security Group (MISG) from 1971 to 1986.

(The INP was formed in 1975 as an integration of all local police forces in the country then under operational control of the PC.) Soon Lacson became Provincial Director of the Province of Laguna from February to July 1992.

Lacson, whose work involved mainly intelligence-gathering, rose through the ranks, becoming Lieutenant Colonel in the mid-1980s.

In 1981, Lacson was a Lieutenant Colonel with the PC-Metrocom, when he led a team that rescued now-tycoon Robina Gokongwei-Pe, daughter of businessman John Gokongwei Jr., from a kidnap-for-ransom gang.

Robina's family offered Lacson and his team a reward, but Lacson declined it, as part of his no-take policy.

Lacson explained he does not want his men to have the wrong mentality of not helping "gusgusin" (poor) complainants who cannot afford to give them rewards.

The Gokongweis eventually decided to show their gratitude by donating mobile patrol vehicles to the PC, coursing it through then PC chief Maj. Gen. Fidel Ramos.

In a Twitter post, Lacson recalled advising the elder Gokongwei not to sound intimidated while negotiating with the kidnappers.

He said that after Robina's rescue, the elder Gokongwei offered P400,000 as reward money, which he declined.

Instead, Gokongwei donated 10 mobile cars to the PC Metrocom.

A court case filed in 1983 by alleged martial law torture victims against Lacson and other military officers was closed by 2012 when the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's 2003 ruling that reversed the Quezon City Regional Trial Court's order for the military officers to pay damages to their alleged victims due to the decision lacking "procedural due process".

While serving in the Philippine Constabulary's Metropolitan Command, Lacson's work involved mainly solving crimes, including kidnap-for-ransom incidents.

After the 1986 People Power Revolution, he served at the PC-INP Anti-Carnapping Task Force as its commander from 1986 to 1988, as provincial commander of the Province of Isabela from 1988 to 1989, and as commander of the Cebu Metropolitan District Command (Metrodiscom) from 1989 to 1992.

In 1991, he joined the then-newly created civilian Philippine National Police, or PNP, formed as a result of the merger of the military Philippine Constabulary and the civilian Integrated National Police or INP.

Afterwards, he was appointed Chief of Task Force Habagat at the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission from 1992 to 1995.

His career as a police officer became the basis for two local action films: Task Force Habagat (1993) and Ping Lacson: Super Cop (2000).

In 1996, he earned a postgraduate degree of Master in Government Management from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

From 1996 to April 1997, he was given the task of project officer of "Special Project Alpha."

He was the Director General of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from 1999 to 2001, and was a candidate in the 2004 and 2022 Philippine presidential elections.

During his tenure as the chief of the PNP, he was known for instituting various reforms within the organization.

Lacson was appointed Chief of the PNP on November 18, 1999.

American historian Alfred W. McCoy claimed in his 1999 book Closer Than Brothers that Lacson was among those in MISG who tortured prisoners during martial law in the 1970s, which Lacson has vehemently denied.

His high approval rating and high-profile anti-corruption campaigns paved the way for his Senate bid in 2001, where he won and placed tenth in the elections.

He ran for the presidency in 2004, but lost though he continued to serve as senator until 2007.

He won another six-year term in 2007.

After his first two terms in the Senate, Lacson was appointed by then-President Benigno Aquino III as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery in December 2013.

He led the management and rehabilitation efforts of the central provinces in the Philippines affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

While he initially planned to run for president again in 2016, he opted to run for the Senate in the 2016 elections.

He won and ranked fourth in the said elections.

Lacson went on for another attempt for the Presidency of the Philippines during the 2022 Philippine presidential election, however he placed 5th in the race receiving 1.66% of the total vote.

After the elections, Lacson said he would contribute to food security through an agri-aqua business.

Meanwhile, Lacson's advocacy against the pork barrel system and the corruption associated with him was cited by the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila when it conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, on March 27, 2019.

Lacson also received from the Philippine Military Academy the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award on February 19, 2022, in recognition of his "more than 50 years of “dedicated, exemplary and unblemished service to the country characterized by his faithful adherence to the virtues of Courage, Loyalty and Integrity."