Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, October 6, that Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s call for all sitting government officials — from Congress to Malacañang — to resign and give way to a snap election “may be a popular decision as far as the public is concerned.”
Cayetano, in a statement posted on his official social media pages on Sunday, said this may be the only way to rebuild public trust in the country’s political institutions.
“That’s a tough decision that the president, vice president, senators, and congressmen will have to make,” Lacson said. “But I think it would be well accepted by the public…it could be an answer to the present crisis”, he said.
The governor added that the entire scenario will “all depend on the officials mentioned by Cayetano.”
In his Sunday statement, Cayetano argued that the series of corruption scandals hounding the government “has eroded the very foundation of our people’s faith in leadership” and that genuine accountability requires more than just words from public officials.
“If we are really serious about restoring trust, then let’s go all in,” Cayetano said. “Let everyone resign — from the president down to the last congressman—and let’s hold snap elections.”
He said the catch is “none of us who are in office now should be allowed to run again.”*