Largely avoiding controversy because of the Manny Pacquiao “masahol pa sa hayop (worse than animals)” debacle, former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson Sr. has also stated his opposition to marriage equality in the same Bilang Pilipino 2016 interview.
On February 15, Pacquiao said in a recorded interview that he does not agree with marriage equality.
Pacquiao stirred controversy when he added that “common sense lang. Makakita ka ba ng any animals na lalaki sa lalaki o babae sa babae? Mabuti pa yung hayop marunong kumikilala kung lalaki o lalaki, babae o babae. Ngayon, kung lalaki sa lalaki o babae sa babae, mas masahol pa sa hayop ang tao (Roughly: It’s just common sense. Do you see animals where a male pairs with another male, or female with female? Animals are better in that they discern if a male is male, or female is female. Now if it’s a man with another man or a woman with another woman, then a human is worse than animals).”
Lacson, an independent candidate, agreed – at least with Pacquiao’s stance on marriage equality.
“A man and a woman should get married, not a man to another man, and a woman to another woman,” Lacson said.
Lacson is no stranger to LGBT-related controversy, with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago – who is now running to be President of the country – repeatedly alluding to his sexual orientation. In 2013, for instance, she warned the former senator that she would reveal all of Lacson’s “sins” and “sexuality”. Santiago has also repeatedly referred to him as “Pinky Lacson”.
Earlier interviewed by INQUIRER.net, Lacson responded to Santiago’s allegation in 2013. “I am sorry to disappoint the lady senator. If she’s insinuating some lunatic idea about my sexuality, let me emphasize this — I am not gay and I don’t intend to be one,” Lacson was quoted as saying.
Lacson is a retired Filipino police officer who served in the Senate of the Philippines from 2001 to 2013. Prior to this, he was Director-General of the Philippine National Police (1999-2001). Lacson ran for President in the 2004 general election.
More recently, he was appointed as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, supposedly to lead the still delayed rehabilitation efforts of the central provinces in the Philippines affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
