Panfilo Lacson
Panfilo "Ping" Morena Lacson Sr. is a Filipino politician and former police officer who has served as a senator of the Philippines since 2025 and president pro tempore since September 8, 2025. He previously served as a senator from 2001 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022. Lacson is also a former police general who served as director general of the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001. He 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. Despite some controversies, his high approval rating and high-profile anti-corruption campaigns were key to his Senate bid in 2001, where he won and placed tenth in the elections. In January 2001, Lacson's withdrawal of police support for President Joseph Estrada was critical to Estrada's ouster in EDSA II. However, after Estrada was arrested on April 25, 2001, Lacson was among the politicians who spoke against his removal from office at pro-Estrada rallies that preceded the May 1 riots near Malacañang Palace. 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 Haiyan. In the 2016 elections, Lacson ran for senator and won, ranking fourth in the said elections.
Lacson made another attempt for the presidency of the Philippines during the 2022 Philippine presidential election, where he placed fifth, losing to Bongbong Marcos. After the election, Lacson said he would contribute to food security through an agri-aqua business.
Lacson's career in law enforcement became the basis of two local action films: Task Force Habagat and Ping Lacson: Super Cop.
Early life and education
Panfilo Morena Lacson was born in Imus, Cavite on June 1, 1948. His mother, Maxima, a market vendor, was a disciplinarian who instilled distinctions between right and wrong with her children. His father, Buenaventura, was a jeepney driver whose experiences with "kotong cops" eventually inspired him to fight extortion and other forms of corruption. In a post on X/Twitter in May 2024, Lacson also said he got his "discipline, integrity and survival instinct" from his mother.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, then a major service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines responsible for maintaining peace and order and enforcement of laws in the country.
In 1996, he earned a postgraduate degree of Master in Government Management from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
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."
Police career
Early career: PC, PNP, PACC (1971–1999)
Lacson worked at the Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command 's Intelligence and Security Group from 1971 to 1986. Lacson, whose work involved mainly intelligence-gathering, rose through the ranks, becoming Lieutenant Colonel in the mid-1980s. 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 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. Soon Lacson became Provincial Director of the province of Laguna from February to July 1992. Afterwards, he was appointed Chief of Task Force Habagat at the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission from 1992 to 1995. From 1996 to April 1997, he was given the task of project officer of "Special Project Alpha." 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. 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".
Anti-kidnapping and no-take policy
While serving in the Philippine Constabulary's Metropolitan Command, Lacson's work involved mainly solving crimes, including kidnap-for-ransom incidents. 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" 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. Robina recounted details of the incident in her eulogy to her father.
During his stint in Cebu, Lacson rescued the son of a Cebu-based retail magnate. The victim's family intended to give the money they prepared as ransom to Lacson and his operatives as a reward, but Lacson declined it. Lacson was said to have told the victim's family that a mere "thank you" was more than enough for him.
In 1992, Lacson was recruited to the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission chaired by then Vice President Joseph Estrada. Lacson headed the PACC's Task Force Habagat, which would go on to solve several kidnap-for-ransom cases.
Lacson, who would later head the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001, founded the PNP Foundation in 2000, as a way for civic-minded people to give contributions for the benefit of the PNP as an institution.
Anti-jueteng campaign
Aside from kidnap-for-ransom gangs, jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling were also in Lacson's sights when he was in the PC, and eventually in the Philippine National Police.In 1992, he bared an attempt by local jueteng operators in Laguna to bribe him, initially to the tune of P1.2 million a month. He rejected the offer.
Lacson maintained an all-out effort against jueteng, even if in the process he crossed paths with eventual President Joseph Estrada.
PAOCTF chief (1998–2001)
Under the Estrada administration, Lacson headed the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, bringing to zero the number of kidnap-for-ransom cases. The PAOCTF also scored high against drug trafficking, smuggling activities, carnapping, illegal possession of firearms and other nefarious activities.PNP chief: Reforms and kotong cops (1999–2001)
While heading the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, he was appointed to serve as Philippine National Police Chief in 1999, but did not get his 4-star rank due to former Santiago Aliño's retirement issues since 1998. He only got the 4-star rank in March 2000.Lacson's notable accomplishments were the reduction of corrupt policemen and various organized crime syndicates engaged in kidnapping, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities.
As Chief PNP, Lacson eliminated the "Kotong culture" among the police officers. He rationalized the distribution of financial and logistical resources by downloading 85 percent to the police frontline units, retaining only 15 percent in the police headquarters. He imposed a strict physical fitness test on all PNP members, invoking a 34-inch maximum waistline for police officers.
Lacson refused to accept bribe money from illegal gambling operators and contractors and suppliers transacting business with the PNP, declining offers of monetary rewards from kidnap-for-ransom victims after rescuing them from their captors.
Meanwhile, Lacson downloaded 85% of the PNP's budget to the operating units to improve the overall management, while removing excess privileges of top police officials.
Most importantly, Lacson stopped the practice of "kotong cops," who extort money from public utility drivers, vegetable and rice dealers, and vendors.
Under Lacson's leadership, the PNP earned a whopping 64% approval rating in July and October 2000, the highest ever recorded from the Filipino people. Lacson himself got an approval rating of 73% as Chief PNP in July 2000, thus regaining the PNP's glory years by restoring public trust in the police force.
Lacson resigned on January 22, 2001, due EDSA Dos, but only retired formally on March 16, 2001. That late retirement made Leandro Mendoza's promotion to the rank Director General delayed, even Mendoza was instilled as the new PNP Chief.