Lacson on Google ban on political ads: Very good

Presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson expressed agreement to tech giant Google’s plan to temporarily stop accepting advertisements related to the 2022 national and local elections, noting that this would help prevent online trolls from misleading the public.

"Very good. Ang trolls nag-a-abound (Trolls abound online)," he said during his virtual weekly press conference.

Lacson said it was time social media companies take more action towards responsibility, particularly on trolls who spread fake news against political candidates.

Google on Wednesday announced the ad ban for the entire campaign period.  The firm said it will instead focus on election-related activities that “aim to help people access useful and accurate information via product features and media literacy programs, encourage participation in the voting process, and help protect the integrity of the elections.”

Google also said that it is working with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on several initiatives, such as the voter registration campaign hosted on Google Cloud.

Lacson's running mate, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, said that in Australia, there is also a proposed legislation that holds social media giants like Facebook and Twitter responsible for identifying online trolls.

Playing safe?

Lacson and Sotto said they will continue with their campaign style that aims to uplift the level of discourse among the public. They emphasized they will stick to issues and not personalities and not go down to the level of “gutter politics”.

Lacson also debunked claims they are “playing safe” by not attacking political rivals. He said that instead of doing so, they would focus on calling out those involved in wrongdoings if there is evidence.

“We stick to issues. We have never played safe in our public service career. We always take the risk no matter who gets hurt. Sa budget scrutiny pag nakita ko may abuso sa insertions and all ganoon pa rin (In scrutinizing the budget, if I see abuses in insertions, I still call out those responsible),” he said.

Overspeeding tickets

Further, Lacson and Sotto that they too have received tickets for overspeeding on the Skyway, but said they acknowledged the violation and paid the fines. 

“Dapat ganoon ang attitude, hindi ‘yung mali ka na, nagmamagaling ka pa, magpapakilala ka pa, tapos sasabihin mo ‘Hindi mo ako pwedeng hulihin.’ Over time nawalan na tayo ng disiplina, kasi nga ‘yung feeling of entitlement, ano--whether you're a public official or not, dapat sumunod tayo,” the longtime public servant said.

(Our attitude should be like that, not when you’re already wrong but you’re insisting you’re right, and introduce yourself (as an important person) then say ‘You can’t catch me.’ Over time, we’ve lost that discipline because of our feeling of entitlement. Whether you’re a public official or not, we should follow the law.)

This act was commended by both Partido Reporma senatorial aspirants Guillermo Eleazar and Monsour del Rosario.

“Tama po ‘yon, para sa akin the certainty na hindi lang pulis o sino man na ‘pag siya ay nag-violate ng batas ay mahuhuli siya at siya ay mananagot. Napakalaking bagay po ‘yon,” said Eleazar, former chief of the Philippine National Police.

(That is correct, for me the certainty that whether you’re a policeman or whoever, when you violate the law, you should be caught and be penalized, this is a big deal.)—LDF, GMA News