Manila honors Mayor Lacson

President Arroyo and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, along with family, friends and admirers of the late Manila mayor Arsenio Lacson, honored the latter’s memory yesterday with the launching of a foundation for public service in his name and the unveiling of his statue along the Roxas Boulevard seawall.

Best remembered for his acerbic tongue, dark glasses and unorthodox but effective style of governance, Lacson was well loved by his constituents and is considered by many as "the best president the country never had."

Once chosen one of the World’s Ten Best Mayors, he died of a heart attack at age 42 on April 15, 1962.

The Arsenio H. Lacson Foundation for Public Service was launched at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel yesterday morning with President Arroyo as the guest speaker.

Present during the event were Atienza, vice chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, Fr. James Reuter, S.J., chairman of the board, and Millie Lacson-Lapira, daughter of late mayor and member of the foundation’s board of directors. The other members of the foundation’s board who were present were Mr. Eduardo Carrascoso, treasurer, Fr. Carmelo Caluag II, S.J., Salvador Lacson, Raul Contreras, Rodrigo Domingo, and retired police general James Barbers.

The President hailed Lacson as a man of integrity and courage, the epitome of a genuine leader who showed the people what good governance was all about.

Mrs. Arroyo also recalled that Lacson was a close friend of her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, being a classmate at the University of Santo Tomas Law School and also the latter’s campaign manager during his victorious presidential bid in 1961. Despite being a member of the Nacionalista Party (NP) at that time, he was allowed by NP stalwart Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez to run the campaign of Macapagal, who was then the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party (LP). – Cecille Suerte Felipe