Where’s the outrage?

This is the question posed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who notes with dismay that Filipinos seem to have stopped caring about corruption and the importance of accountability and good governance.

Since his days as a cop, Ping Lacson has given priority to fighting corruption. As national police chief, he went after penny-ante kotong cops alike and those who went into crime big time – police officers who were part of ransom kidnapping, carjacking and other organized crime groups.

I can’t remember him ever being linked to graft, extortion and thievery as a law enforcer.

What he became identified with, however, were human rights issues. Ping Lacson the cop apparently shared Rodrigo Duterte’s views on the weakness of the country’s judicial system, which allows notorious criminals to get away with anything.

Frustration with the justice system is partly the reason for public support in this country for extrajudicial short cuts to law enforcement, and the election of candidates who are seen to be tough on crime.

Lacson headed or directly participated in police operations that earned him criminal indictments for summary executions. He was cleared in all the cases. The tough stance on crime propelled him to the Senate, as it sent Duterte to Malacañang.

Unlike Duterte, however, Lacson does not intend to carry out an anti-drug campaign with the violence and brutality of the past five and a half years, in case he wins the presidency in May. If his running mate, Senate President Tito Sotto, also wins, the vice president will be in charge of fighting the drug menace, with emphasis on rehabilitation and curbing demand.

Victory, however, seems out of reach for the tandem at this point, based on the surveys.

The “true opposition” led by Vice President Leni Robredo rejected Lacson for his sponsorship of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The non-administration “middle force” votes are being split among Lacson, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Sen. Manny Pacquiao.

Meanwhile, militant labor leader Leody de Guzman is eating into the votes of VP Leni.

This leaves the pro-administration “continuity” camp with just one tandem, with both bets having solid support in their bailiwicks: Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio. Never mind that presidential harangue about cocaine use and the “weakness” of the only son of dictator Ferdinand and Imeldific; Bongbong’s running mate carries the Duterte surname, and in this country, more than in many other places, blood runs thicker than water.

Imeldific has been safely gagged and stashed away in this election season, lest she revive memories of kleptocracy, edifice complex, her mind-boggling king’s ransom of jewelry and collection of artwork by the Masters.

But even if she emerges to once again sing “Dahil sa Iyo” and “New York, New York,” will Filipino memories be jolted, and will the memories matter? Or will Pinoys convince themselves that the evils of the dictatorship are just fake news, and this nation will be great again?

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Ping Lacson wonders if the anger is there against corruption.

Do Filipinos see it as a normal part of life, impossible to root out, with people even believing that if you can’t lick the corrupt, it’s more practical (and immensely profitable) to join them?

Facing us Monday night on One News’ “The Chiefs” for the second time as a presidential aspirant, Lacson stuck to his policy against negative campaigning, and did not mention any particular candidate.

But he did express frustration that the theft of even billions seems to elicit only a shrug from Filipinos.

He faced us on the same day that the Commission on Elections junked the petition to invalidate the candidacy of Bongbong Marcos. As the Comelec has noted, there are still five other petitions to disqualify Marcos. But the case that was junked bore the most substantive arguments.

Lacson, however, is not dismayed by the Comelec ruling. Like VP Leni, he would prefer to win on merit rather than because a rival got disqualified. (And if “BBM” is DQ’d, as his loyalists have pointed out, another Marcos, possibly Senator Imee, might run as a substitute candidate.)

What is surely dismaying for Lacson, although he didn’t say it, is BBM’s sustained commanding lead in the surveys, together with the carrier of the Duterte torch, Davao City Mayor Sara.

Lacson attributes BBM’s popularity to social media, and he says his campaign team is recalibrating its strategy to focus more on this platform, even if Marcos enjoys an early lead.

As for the messaging, however, all the non-administration candidates might have to pool their resources to counter this mass hallucination about the glory days of the Marcos years whose revival is promised by the BBM camp.

What happened to the memories of world-class corruption, crony capitalism, the torture and arrest, search and seizure orders served in the dead of night? Will the ASSOs be combined with Tokhang and Double Barrel for the next six years? Will public officials who disagree with Inday Sara be slapped around in public?

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Lacson is not the only candidate promising to curb corruption, but he touts his track record in fighting graft. As a senator, Lacson has been one of the handful who has consistently rejected any form of pork barrel allocation. For transparency, he has said that if he wins, among his first acts will be to open his bank accounts to the public.

He has also given priority to scrutinizing the annual national appropriation for new versions of congressional pork, suspicious last-minute “insertions” and other budgeting anomalies.

The budget process, unfortunately, can be arcane to ordinary people. The adverse impact of budget anomalies may have to be reworked for easy understanding at the grassroots.

The Pharmally scandal has shown the consequences of corruption and cronyism especially in times of crises. Yet even this multibillion-peso scandal amid an unprecedented pandemic seems to have failed in imparting indelible lessons about the wages of corruption.

It is as if we have given up on accountability and good governance. This is a catastrophic mindset as we struggle to recover from the pandemic.

During the Marcos “golden years,” the Philippines plunged from being second only to Japan as Asia’s most progressive country to being the regional basket case.

Today, the Philippines is being referred to by most international analysts as the region’s laggard in pandemic recovery.

The wrong choices in May will seal our doom. Remember, we deserve the government we get.