Lacson says rescuing KFR victims driven by empathy towards parents

Partido Reporma chairman and standard-bearer Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson said he empathized with the parents of kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) victims that’s why he was always willing to lay down his life back during his policeman days whenever he would lead a rescue operation for an abducted child.

In a recent Facebook post, Lacson said this was what he felt when he rescued Emman, the son of Edward and Elsie Lee, who are related to the influential Gaisano family of Cebu. The senator would meet the child he once saved 32 years later when Partido Reporma visited Dumaguete City last year.

“Bakit ko binubuwis ang buhay ko para sa ibang tao? Kasi magulang din ako. At alam kong masakit para sa isang magulang ang mawalan ng anak, lalo na kung dahil pa sa kriminalidad (Why am I sacrificing my life for others? Because I am also a parent. And I know how painful it is for a parent to lose a child, especially on criminality),” wrote Lacson.

“Five years old pa lang si Emman dito sa litratong ito na kinuha pagkatapos namin siya maligtas mula sa mga kidnappers. (Emman was only five years old here when we rescued him from his kidnappers),” he added in a throwback post last week with a photo of him and the young Emman.

In a speech delivered on December 11 when he met with members of the business community in Dumaguete City, Lacson said the moment he crossed paths with Emman and his family would always return to his memory whenever he would visit Cebu City.

Then a lieutenant-colonel, Lacson recalled his stint as commander of the Cebu Metrodiscom (Metropolitan District Command) under the defunct Philippine Constabulary, the forerunner of the Philippine National Police, where he would serve for 28 months from 1989 to 1992.

“One day after I took over, a kidnap-for-ransom case happened. It involved a very young man. Ang sabi ko sa (I said in) Cebu, 9 years old. Kanina (Earlier) when I saw him, sabi ko (I told him) ‘you must be 41 years old now.’ Sabi niya (He said), ‘No, I’m only 37.’ ‘Yun pala (Turned out, he was only), 5 years old lang siya (then). You know, and he is here right now, si Emman Lee,” he narrated.

The three-term senator remembered carrying the boy himself to their house in Guadalupe, Cebu City after his team of 40 Metrodiscom operatives saved the boy from his captors. “I wrapped him in a bed sheet, ‘di ba (right), Emman?” Lacson said.

“And then after that, one of the Gaisano tycoons—sabihin na nating (let’s just say) tycoons, tycoon naman talaga kayo, ano (because you really are tycoons)—approached me and whispered to me: ‘You know colonel, we have something for you as a reward.’ Parang reward money ba. (It was some sort of reward money) ‘For the rescue of Emman.’”

But given his lifelong “no-take” policy, Lacson was in a quandary. He was told that according to Chinese tradition, when a person is hit with bad luck and that person has a “9” on his birthday, the family had to shell out money, otherwise more bad luck would come to them. Emman’s father was 39 at the time.

“I don’t know if it is true, but it is their tradition according to them, and they even used Eddie Gaisano to talk to me privately,” added Lacson, trying to find a way to politely decline the reward offer without breaking the tradition of the family.

He recalled Gaisano saying: “Colonel, if you don’t accept the reward money, baka ikaw pa masisi ‘pag (you might get blamed if) more bad luck would come into the lives of the Lee family.” Chinese-Filipino families are known to strictly follow their traditions.

“OK, I was scratching my head and I told them, I told Eddie Gaisano, ‘OK, ganito na lang, para maka-comply sila, and para maka-comply din ako sa aking advocacy, sabi ko (why don’t we just make a deal so you can comply with your tradition and I can comply with my advocacy), let’s give each and every (Metrodiscom) operative one peso.’”

“So, ‘di ba, (I believe) you donated 40 pesos to the Metrodiscom operatives who participated in the rescue operation? But hindi rin makatulog sina Elsie, sabi naman: ‘Baka pwede kami mag-donate ng radio, not to you, but to the office.’ Sabi ko: ‘Pag ganyan OK lang,’” Lacson added.

(But Elsie still could not sleep. She said: ‘Maybe we can donate radio, not to you, but to the office.’ And I said: ‘If that’s the case, that’s OK.’)

The Partido Reporma presidential candidate then turned to the screen and was amused to see a photograph of his younger self seated beside Emman at the Lee residence, just after the rescue, which he uploaded on his official Facebook page last January 6.

Lacson is running in the 2022 elections on a platform of eradicating corruption and crime and fixing the government for the lasting benefit of Filipinos. He visited Dumaguete City with running mate Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto and Partido Reporma senatorial bets Dr. Minguita Padilla and General Guillermo Eleazar for the party’s “Online Kumustahan” dialogue series last December.