"Ping Lacson is a decent man" – Cebu Gov Gwen Garcia

 "Ping Lacson is a decent man" – Cebu Gov Gwen Garcia

Presidential candidate and Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson (right) pays a courtesy call on Cebu Governor Gwendolyn “Gwen” Garcia (left) at the Cebu Provincial Capitol Friday afternoon, September 17, 2021. (Calvin D. Cordova/Manila Bulletin)

CEBU CITY — Senator Ping Lacson drew praises from Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia when he paid a courtesy call at the Capitol on Friday.

While Lacson has already announced that he is running for president in the 2022 elections, Garcia said the former police general did not try to convince her to support his candidacy.

“That is not his nature,” Garcia said.

Garcia said even her father, the late Pabling Garcia, was impressed with Lacson.

Garcia recalled that when Lacson ran for president in 2004, he no longer asked for the support of Pabling, who at the time was supporting Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“I remember before when he also ran for president, my father was the governor and I was a consultant to my father. He came to visit my dad, he had the decency not to ask my father. He knew that my father was committed to GMA. I can never forget the comment of my father. My father said “Ping Lacson is a decent man”,” Garcia said.

During the meeting, Lacson was accompanied by former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

Lacson’s running mate Vicente” Tito” Sotto III was not around.

Garcia said the meeting, which lasted for about 30 minutes, was “all pleasantries.”

Lacson refused be interviewed with local media, saying he had to catch the Senate’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.

Aside from talking about Lacson’s stint as chief of the Cebu police, Garcia informed the Senator that her local party One Cebu is not yet aligning with national candidates until the deadline of the substitution of candidates on November 15.

“Because right now, the situations seem to be very fluid in the national scene and we will only decide well after November 15,” said Garcia.