Lacson Flags Modern-Day Makapili

SENATE PRESIDENT PRO Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Saturday warned against what he described as “homegrown traitors,” or Filipinos who are willing to sell the country in exchange for personal gain.

Lacson – who has spent more than five decades in public service, almost half of which doing intelligence work – said such individuals, alongside technical intelligence, are the most common sources of information in geopolitics.

“In geopolitics, the most common sources of information are technical intelligence and homegrown traitors who are willing to sell their country in exchange for what’s in it for them. In intelligence operations, it is called ‘recruitment in place,'” he said in a post on X.

Earlier, Lacson rejected a suggestion to give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which he said is no different from surrendering Luzon or even the entire country.

During the Commission on Appointments’ hearing last Wednesday, he countered Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s suggestion that the Philippines give up the KIG by citing a long-standing legal principle supporting the Philippines’ ownership of the KIG.

He pointed out that lawyer and adventurer Tomas Cloma discovered the Spratly islands and occupied them as under “res nullius,” whoever discovers and occupies the land is recognized as its owner. Cloma turned over the ownership of the land to the Philippine government. There are currently Filipino families occupying the KIG, a town in Palawan which Lacson visited in 2021.

Lacson, who served in the Philippine Constabulary and as Chief of the Philippine National Police and now as Senator, has long been vocal in defending the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, including against bullying in the area by China.