Lacson: Repentance without corrective action won’t end corruption

MANILA, Philippines — Repentance, without corrective action, cannot erase corruption and other forms of wrongdoing, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

Lacson issued the statement following Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s online remarks that Filipinos as a people are guilty of various misdeeds, but that what is important is repentance.

The statement has since drawn flak, with the minority leader’s own brother – former Taguig mayor Lino Cayetano – countering his older brother’s notion.

“I know government officials who committed sins by stealing public funds, repented, stole again and repented again a number of times. In the meantime, people suffer from their belief that absolution comes after repentance,” Lacson wrote on X, expressing support for Lino Cayetano’s view that Filipinos should not be painted as naturally dishonest.

Former mayor Cayetano said his brother’s remarks reflect the kind of statement from “traditional politicians that spark anger.”

He added that Filipinos are God-fearing and want the best for their families.

“It is not in Filipinos’ nature to steal, buy votes, or lie. Neither is the solution in mere ‘repentance’,” former mayor Cayetano said.

“Let’s not normalize corruption. Let’s fight it,” he added.

In a statement, Sen. Cayetano dismissed the outrage over his remarks as “deliberate distortion,” blaming news organizations who ran the story and “stripping my words of context.”

He clarified that his point was not to excuse wrongdoing but to stress that real reform requires both accountability for the most guilty and a change in the culture that tolerates corruption.

Amid the controversy, Cayetano took the Senate floor Monday to call for an uncompromising investigation into questionable infrastructure projects – including those in his own city of Taguig.

“Investigate us. Don’t exempt any city. Don’t exempt Alan Cayetano, our congressman, my brother who is a former mayor, (Pasig City Mayor) Vico Sotto, Sen. Joel Villanueva and most of all Sen. Jinggoy Estrada,” Cayetano said.