Addressing a forum on prospects for the Philippines of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Lacson said the May elections provide Filipinos with the opportunity to elect a leader who would keep his word and who has enough political will to do what is right.
He said candidates during elections always make promises that they almost always break immediately after they are elected.
"This cycle of promises made and promises broken has made the average Filipino lose trust in the government, and has made our people wonder whether there is any hope of redemption in the system itself. It is time to break this vicious cycle in this election," he said.
Lacson offered the kind of leadership he exercised when he led the Philippine National Police (PNP) for 14 months during the short-lived Estrada administration.
"It is leadership that is firm, resolute and honest, one that says what it means and means what it says, one that is unafraid and is ready to challenge old mindsets and entrenched interests," he said.
"The kind of leadership that I intend to establish is one that is resolute without being tyrannical, decisive without being coercive. It is the kind that answers the call of these most critical times," he added.
Discussing the problems the nation is facing, the former PNP chief said the soaring budget deficit, a looming energy crisis, the prevalence of crime, and omnipresent corruption in government are scaring away investors and dragging the country down.
"We cannot even get the respect of foreign creditors, who now charge us greater interest payments. What foreign investors fear as ‘instability’ is actually the product of bad governance," he said.
He said he does not believe opinion surveys that foist on Filipinos that the best choice they have in the coming elections is more of the same bad governance.
"So what opportunity does the 2004 election offer? We have the opportunity to show the people that not all is lost, that something can be done, that platforms of government combined with the right leadership can make a difference," he said.
Lacson expressed elation over what he described as the "overwhelming affirmative response" he received from various sectors to his calls for an end to K-4, acronym of the administration Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan.
To him, K-4 means kahirapan (poverty), katiwalian (graft), kurakot (corruption), and krimen (crime).
"The masses came to welcome us and our message of firm resolve in great numbers, whether in Cavite or Cotabato, or the Davao provinces. And in their eyes you could see not only the glimmer of hope but the courage to join the fight for what is right," he said.
"Perhaps because the messenger of real hope has shown in his past that he knows how to protect them, and they know damn well that he acts with resolute firmness," he stressed.
He said the Arroyo administration cannot hope to solve the problems the nation is facing because it refuses to recognize them.
"The present administration tries to hoodwink us into believing that there has been substantive and substantial change. That is balderdash. In truth, government seems to be in a denial mode. It touts experience, yes, experience of the worst kind. It does not seem to realize that the problems are overwhelming.
"We all know that the first step towards arising at a solution is to accept that there is a problem. The present government refuses to acknowledge even that," he said.