The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) says NO to another term for Panfilo “Ping” Lacson at the Senate.
Lacson is notorious as the man who authored and pushed for the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020. The ATA alongside Republic Act No. 10168, or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA), are the latest pieces of legislation to be weaponized against activists, human rights defenders, dissenters or anyone who finds himself targeted by State authorities for whatever reason.
As of February 2025, up to 166 individuals have been charged or designated as “terrorists” via the ATA and the TFPSA. Ninety-three (93) have been arbitrarily charged or designated under the ATA. Seventy-three (73) have been charged under the TFPSA. There are 35 individuals in detention facing trumped-up charges of violating the ATA and the TFPSA. Seventeen (17) non-governmental organizations, many of them engaged in development work, have had their bank accounts frozen and their operations disrupted or halted because of these laws.
These laws are meant to terrorize people into submission. They affect not only political activists but society as a whole, making them the actual purveyors of terrorism.
Lacson, of course, has had a long and bloody fascist career. From 1971 to 1986, Lacson, as a young lieutenant during martial law’s inception, honed his chops as a fascist with an elite torture unit, the Constabulary Metropolitan Intelligence and Security Group (MISG) headed by the notorious Col. Rolando Abadilla.
From then on, he rose through the ranks with his trademark brutality. As commander of Metrodiscom-Cebu in the second half of the 1980s, he militarized urban poor communities, conducting hamletting and widespread and arbitrary searches and arrests of persons on mere suspicion of involvement with partisan operatives. He formed and promoted fanatical and anti-communist vigilante groups that terrorized entire communities in the upland barangays of Metro Cebu. These groups were ordered to beat up and kill suspected members, supporters or sympathizers of the New People’s Army.
Lacson is also implicated in the forcible disappearance of labor leader Jimmy Badayos in October 1990.
From then on, Lacson has been linked to a number of brutal crimes. In 1995, as head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), Lacson was investigated for the rub-out of 11 members of the Kuratong Baleleng crime syndicate. In November 2000, elements of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) which was directly under the command of Lacson as Joseph Estrada’s newly appointed police chief, were implicated in the abduction and murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito. Dacer had reportedly caught the ire of Estrada who blamed him for his alleged role in the illegal gambling payola exposés that eventually led to Estrada’s impeachment.
Lacson likes to style himself as an anti-corruption stalwart, but is himself embroiled in a number of ill-gotten wealth controversies. In August 2002, Lacson faced charges of perjury and non-disclosure of assets for failing to list in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) the existence of at least three bank accounts in the US, the biggest of which reportedly had a US$200,000 deposit. The allegations were confirmed by the US Treasury. His mansions in Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City and BF Homes in Parañaque City, reportedly worth Php150 million, were also absent in his SALN. There have been allegations that Lacson’s wealth came from his links with big-time drug dealers and kidnappers.
There is much blood and dirt on Lacson’s hands. Such a man must not be elected again to the Senate. SELDA calls for ZERO VOTES for Ping Lacson.