In Marcos country to woo votes, Ping Lacson talks about EDSA

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The sea of red shirts in the audience at the Centennial Arena in Laoag City falls silent, unsure of where he is headed. Who talks about EDSA on a public stage in these parts, and in a Marcos-led election campaign?

ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – At a kick-off rally for the administration’s senatorial slate on Tuesday, February 11, Panfilo Lacson chose to talk about a taboo topic here: the 1986 ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The senatorial bet and former national police chief spent his short speech appealing to the Ilocano psyche, admiring them for being “masinop, masipag, at matapat (thrifty, industrious, and loyal).”

Then he made a surprise segue to show proof of Ilocanos’ loyalty, recalling that it’s been nearly 40 years since Marcos Sr. was ousted at EDSA and yet, all this time, the Ilocanos have stuck it out with him, his name, and his family.

The sea of red shirts in the audience at the Centennial Arena in Laoag City fell silent, unsure of where he was headed. Who talks about EDSA on a public stage in these parts, and in a Marcos-led election campaign?

And then the retired general acknowledged that he was part of the Metro Manila police unit under the old Marcos regime that was headed by his Ilocano commander, the late colonel Rolando Abadilla. Called Metrodiscom, the unit — and Abadilla himself — earned notoriety for allegedly torturing and kidnapping anti-Marcos activists.

A native of Banna, Ilocos Norte, Abadilla had served as Ilocos Norte vice governor in the latter years of the Cory Aquino administration. He was gunned down in his car in a spectacular ambush by suspected communists along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City in 1996; he was 54.

The once feared and dreaded Abadilla broke down in tears as he saw how the Marcoses were forced to flee Malacañang on February 25, 1986, Lacson said. “Noon ko lang po nakita si Colonel Abadilla sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon ay humagulgol na parang bata. At ang sinabi niya sa amin, ‘Umalis na ang ating pangulo, ating commander-in-chief. Tayo ay maghihiwa-hiwalay na,” he recalled. (That was the only time I saw Colonel Abadilla cry like a child. And he told us, our president and commander-in-chief is gone. We go our separate ways.)

After that, Lacson said he was branded as a “Marcos loyalist” and put on “floating” status for several months until he got reinstated. He eventually rose through the ranks, headed the high-profile anti-crime task force of then-president Joseph Estrada, got elected senator, was charged with murder and kidnapping under the Gloria Arroyo government, and escaped and led a fugitive’s life until the Marcoses’ arch rival — then-president Noynoy Aquino — allowed him to return.

He ran for president twice, including the last presidential race in 2022 which Marcos won. – Rappler.com