PRESIDENTIAL candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday alleged big crowds seen in the various campaign sorties of his rivals in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces are attended by “hakots” or paid individuals.
In an interview in Zamboanga City, Lacson claimed he got the information from a supporter of the Lacson-Sotto (Senate President Vicente Sotto III) tandem in the Southern Tagalog region.
He said the supporter, whom he did not name, was supposedly approached by a “coordinator” who allegedly offered to provide their campaign rally with warm bodies in exchange for a P500 per head payment.
The “hakot” crowd or paid individuals will purportedly be coming from Rizal, Payatas in Quezon City, Caloocan City, and Mandaluyong City.
Lacson said the supporter claimed that the attendees are the same set of people who were allegedly paid to attend the campaign sorties of his contenders.
Lacson said their supporter turned down the offer since he was aware that the Lacson-Sotto tandem prefers to hold townhall-type of dialogues so they can more intimately discuss their programs of government to the people.
“That’s the reality on the ground and we know that. We can’t blame the people, especially with the pandemic because life is really hard nowadays,” Lacson said.
Lacson said having paid crowds is a “vicious cycle of vengeance” which he said involves a candidate giving in to the whims of the people by giving them money to join campaign rallies knowing that the candidate can get back the millions they spent once elected.
He said the practice should be stopped.
“It has been running in circles. During the campaign period, a voter will say that this is the time we can exact revenge on candidates. Other candidates will say ‘Let’s give in to their whims for 45 to 90 days [duration of the campaign period] but we can get back at them once elected.’ When will this end?),” he added.
He said this the reason why he and Sotto do not engage in campaign rallies involving huge crowds since doing so will be a form of a one-way communication with the people, unlike townhall meetings which is interactive as “we learn from them, and they learn from us.”
