Following the first death anniversary of the late president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, on June 24, 2022, outgoing Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson reiterated in a tweet on Sunday, June 26, that “PNoy” was his “most admired” chief executive.
The relationship between the two goes way back.
Lacson, a three-term senator, served as Aquino’s Presidential Adviser for Rehabilitation and Recovery from late 2013 to early 2015.
During Jessica Soho’s Presidential Interviews on Jan. 22, 2022, Lacson revealed that out of all the Philippine presidents, he admires Aquino the most because “he was not corrupt.”
In the same interview, he also commended the Aquino administration’s “no wang-wang policy.”
“Pinangunahan niya yung ‘no wang-wang policy’; symbolic, napakasimple, pero napaka-symbolic,” Lacson told Soho.
In 2021, Aquino died in his sleep at age 61 due to renal failure secondary to diabetes.
RELATED: Tributes continue to pour in for late Noynoy Aquino a year after his death
Lacson and Aquino served as senators during the 14th Congress.
A Reddit user cited that Aquino’s win during the 2010 general elections encouraged Lacson to return to the Philippines after hiding overseas for over 14 months.
“Well si Noy2x kasi dahilan kaya nakabalik siya ng pinas, nagtago siya diba,” the Reddit user said.
The Department of Justice filed two murder cases against Lacson in 2010 due to his alleged involvement in the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
Beating an arrest warrant issued by a Manila court, Lacson had gone into hiding and repeatedly said he was innocent. He blamed the political persecution against him by the former Arroyo administration as the reason for his hiding.
Lacson returned to the country on March 26, 2011, from a flight from Hong Kong.
In November 2011, the Supreme Court junked with finality the case against Lacson on the Dacer-Corbito murder case.
Another Redditor claimed that Lacson allegedly felt it was safe to return to the country during Aquino’s term, and he would not decide to do so if Arroyo’s ally was seated.
Lacson lost to Arroyo during the 2004 presidential elections, coming only third to Arroyo and Fernando Poe Jr.
After failing yet another presidential bid in the historic 2022 elections, Lacson said that he was “going home” and that “it is time to serve my family for a change.”
Lacson placed 5th with almost 900,000 votes.
RELATED: Presidential bets post messages a day after elections
