Lacson: Campaign ‘rejuvenated’ after split with Alvarez’s Partido Reporma

ZAMBOANGA CITY — As they barnstorm Mindanao this week, presidential candidate and Senator Panfilo Lacson said his campaign was “rejuvenated” barely a week after his split with Partido Reporma, led by Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez.

“I'm surprised kasi parang nag-rejuvenate ang aming campaign e, parang sa tingin ko mas magaang at the same time maraming lumabas na ‘Oo nga, we will continue to support Senator Lacson,’” the presidential candidate said in a press conference.

(I'm surprised because our campaign has become more rejuvenated. It felt lighter and at the same time the sentiment of support for my candidacy has come out.)

Asked if the campaign was crippled by Alvarez’s decision to support Vice President Leni Robredo, Lacson said: “Hindi. Parang nabuhayan. Actually sa halip na mapilayan.”

(Not at all. Actually, it did not cripple my campaign. Instead, it revived my bid.)

At the early part of Lacson’s campaign, the presidential bet was banking his Mindanao votes from Davao del Norte which is considered a bailiwick of Partido Reporma.

However, the party decided to support Robredo’s presidential race, forcing Lacson to resign as the party chairman and member.

Lacson also disclosed that his campaign team is planning a “one-time big-time” campaign rally one of these days.

While they consider having huge rallies, Lacson said they won’t avail offers wherein participants will be paid P500 per head to attend their sorties.

Earlier in the day, Lacson said that an organizer offered to hire people to attend their campaign rallies for P500 per head.

For now, he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III will be sticking with the town-hall meetings, which he said, have more “purpose” than rallies.

The Lacson and Sotto tandem visited Zamboanga City today to hold multi-sectoral meetings as part of their Eleksyon 2022 campaign.

They were welcomed by Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco-Salazar.

Although Climaco made a commitment to another presidential bet, Lacson said they still paid courtesy to the mayor as it is part of Filipino culture.

For Eleksyon 2022, Zamboanga City has 445,240 registered voters, according to the Commission on Elections. — BM, GMA News