7 labor groups join Lacson bandwagon

Seven small labor groups endorsed yesterday the presidential bid of opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

In a news conference at a Quezon City hotel, leaders of these groups said Lacson could be the kind of leader the country needs.

With his qualities, courage and determination, "we can have a government that will be more responsive to the needs of the toiling masses," the leaders said in a statement.

The groups that endorsed Lacson were the Association of Democratic Labor Organizations, Automotive Industry Workers Alliance, Labor Rights Advocacy and Welfare Center, Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center, National Federation of Labor-National Confederation of Labor, National Labor Union, and Pambansang Diwa ng Manggagawang Pilipino.

They said when Lacson was chief of the Philippine National Police during the short-lived Estrada administration, he pursued policies that benefited the poor.

"Labor cannot forget when then General Ping Lacson launched the campaign against kotong cops. It was a time when everyone thought that the widespread practice of kotong was impossible to eliminate. But kotong did stop…….It was the poor who benefited most from the drive to stop kotong," they pointed out.

They noted that policemen were afraid to harass and extort money from public utility drivers and vendors.

They said Lacson, as PNP chief, allotted 85 percent of the PNP budget to field units, eliminating lavish perks and privileges for top police officials. – Jess Diaz