ARSENIO H. LACSON AS MANILA MAYOR (Last of Three Part Series)

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

(Nota Bene: Arsenio H. Lacson, mayor of Manila for 11 years, no relations to the creepy character named Panfilo Lacson Jr. , was a fiery and upright man, who hated corruption. Essentially a political romantic, Lacson could be likened to a Don Quijote, who never wavered to battle the political windmills.

Lacson’s politics escaped definition. A man of many sterling qualities and even contradictions, Lacson could not be defined within the context of the politics of his era. He was a party man, who adhered to the politics of the Nacionalista Party to which he belonged throughout his political life. Yet, he was fiercely independent of his party and even went to the extent of criticizing his own partymates.

The truth is Lacson was nobody’s man. Lacson was a curmudgeon, a hot-tempered maverick, who never hesitated to speak out his mind on the nagging issues of the day. He criticized the conduct of his fellow politicians. He was the political leader, who did not want to be straitjacketed by their norms and niceties. The truth was he defined the politics of his era, as he transformed himself as its keen guardian, critic, and advocate.

My three-part series were lifted from Amador Brioso Jr.’s biography book simply titled “Arsenio H. Lacson of Manila,” the paperback edition of which came out this year. Jun Brioso’s book could pass the rigorous requirements of scholarship. But the author did not include vital footnotes, endnotes, and sources of his assertions.

Jun said they were omitted on the last minute, an editorial decision that he seems to regret because other readers have the same observation. Jun could probably include them when he does an enlarged edition in which erstwhile omitted but important details would be included.

Perhaps, Jun could include the endearing nickname journalists of his time gave him. They called him “Mambo.” His book does not include this detail, which is intimate for us, journalists.

Just to inform our readers, older colleagues, whom I had interacted early in my journalistic career – they are all now dead – called him Mambo. That’s it without exception. NBC correspondent in Manila Benedicto David, Bulletin Today columnist Ben Lara, Manila Times and Manila Chronicle publisher Chino Roces, prolific freelance writer Manuel Almario, editor Tirso Rodriguez, veteran reporters Calixto “Stootz” Fernandez and Tony Gloria, among others were among whom I heard calling him Mambo.)

Last of Three Parts

ARSENIO H. Lacson was prominently mentioned as a viable running mate of Ramon Magsaysay in the 1953 presidential elections. His popularity was at its height. Although he only had four years of experience as a politician – the first two as member of the House of Representatives and the next two as Manila mayor – Lacson was perceived to represent a fresh wind of political change to typify the postwar era.

But Lacson himself felt it was not yet his time to seek a national office. He barely warmed in his seat as Manila mayor. He felt he did not have the wherewithal to go for a national office.

Nacionalista Party leaders convinced Lacson to seek the vice presidential nomination but he refused. Magsaysay personally pleaded him, but he still declined. In the party convention sometime in April, 1953, Lacson rejected the official nomination, gave way to Sen. Carlos P. Garcia, and campaigned for him. The pair of Magsaysay and Garcia won over the tandem of Elpidio Quirino and Jose Yulo.

Magsaysay believed that Lacson had better chances than Garcia. Lacson was a gifted public speaker; he could enthrall the public with his bombastic speeches. Moreover, he could reap votes from the Visayas and Mindanao. Lacson could have been elected as vice president and become the president when Magsaysay died in a plane crash in 1957.

It brief, it was not his destiny to become president.

But it did not deter him from participating in the political dynamics of his time. Why not? Lacson was doing well as Manila mayor. Moreover, he had captured the national imagination. Hence, he was always on the public limelight as mass media sought his opinion on burning issues of the day.

This was unexpected of a local official of those days. Lacson was indeed part of the processes when it came to public debates of political and policy issues. He was the darling of mass media. He exuded political verve, virtuosity, and versatility.

Lacson was the Renaissance man, who was pugnacious at times when either his personal honor or the nation’s was at stake. A vignette said Lacson, not yet a politician, overheard an American tourist berating the country in a restaurant at posh Manila Hotel. Lacson stood from his chair, confronted the American, and gave him a wicked punch that sent him to the floor.

Lacson almost figured in two gunfights shortly before the 1953 presidential elections. The first was on July 13, 1953, Oscar Castelo, who replaced Ramon Magsaysay as defense (Magsaysay resigned to run for president), sent a contingent of soldiers to arrest Lacson for crimes of sedition and rebellion. Lacson, with his bodyguards and mediamen, met the soldiers at the Luneta Park. He disarmed the commanding officer of the arresting soldiers, a certain Col. Sayson, and poked his service pistol to him, warning that he would shoot the officer if the soldiers would not lay down their arms and leave. They left.

On Oct. 4, 1953, Lacson flew to Bacolod City and stayed in sister Amparo’s house. He was to speak in the political campaign of the Magsaysay-Garcia ticket there. Since Lacson and his men did not stop at a police checkpoint set by Mayor Jose Amante, a rival, a police contingent surrounded his sister’s house to arrest him. 

His sister did not wake him up as he was asleep when they arrived. Lacson learned the incident later in the day. The rally did not push through because they did not have a permit. But when Lacson met Amante at the airport, he challenged Amante to a fight. Amante did not oblige.

Although Magsaysay and Garcia won, Lacson did not have smooth relations with Magsaysay. Although they were partymates, they differed. Lacson spoke openly of their differences. He openly criticized the president for his initiatives, although Magsaysay never stopped to hold dialogues with him. This process led to compromises and agreements.

By this time, Lacson had a radio program and a newspaper column, where he spoke out of his mind on many issues with Magsaysay. Among the issues they differed included Magsaysay’s imposition of meat importation, which Lacson felt would adversely affect local meat producers, Japan’s war reparations, the unacceptable provisions of the Bell Trade Act, and even the U.S.-Philippines bilateral relations, particularly the lack of iron-clad guarantee of U.S. protection in case of a new war.

Lacson opposed Magsaysay on other issues. When Hukbalahap Supremo Luis Taruc was about to surrender after negotiating with young journalist Benigno Aquino Jr. , Lacson immediately came to the rescue of Ninoy Aquino after Magsaysay was about to renege on the terms of Taruc’s surrender. He urged Magsaysay to help Aquino. Taruc later surrendered and the rest was history.

As mayor of the country’s premier city, Lacson had his own travails. In April, 1954, Lacson had a spat with a Manila councilor, who spread the canard that he was raising a million pesos for the 1955 local elections. The rumor reached Lacson, who confronted councilor Fausto Alberto, who owned up the rumor. Lacson punched and challenged him to a gun duel, which a perspiring Albert declined. It was later found that Alberto got angry over Lacson’s move to compel a detective agency Alberto owned to pay back taxes to the city government.

Lacson handily won in his first reelection bid as Manila mayor in the 1955 elections. He defeated Liberal Party candidate Salvador Marino. His second term enabled him to consolidate his political grip of Manila. Immediately, Lacson launched campaign against vices and jaywalking. He personally led raids of massage parlors and prostitution dens and arrested offenders.

On March 15, 19576, Magsaysay was among the visitors of Lacson, when he was convalescing after a four-hour surgery of his sinus condition, which the doctors did two days earlier at the Manila Doctors Hospital. It turned out that it was the last time he saw Magsaysay, as the latter perished with 25 others in a plane crash on March 17.

In his quiet but unguarded moments, Lacson could not help but feel eerie over the possibility that he could have been the president had he acceded to Magsaysay’s invitation to be his running mate. He felt Garcia could not continue Magsaysay’s works.

In his view, Garcia was too old school. Garcia believed in dividing the spoils of victory. He was inclined to grant favors to families and friends, who helped him in his political career. Lacson thought of running either for president or vice president in the 1957 elections.

Sometime in March, 1957, Ferdinand Marcos, an ambitious congressman, visited Lacson in his Earnshaw residence to propose what he described a “dream team,” where Lacson would leave the Nacionalista Party and join the rival Liberal Party to run as its president with Marcos as his running mate. Lacson rebuffed Marcos’s advances, saying half-jestingly he would not want to run for president with a running mate, who was a murderer because he could plot his death to replace him.

Although Lacson was bruited as a strong and viable contender for either the presidency or vice presidency, he did not figure prominently in the 1957 Nacionalista Party convention. His expose against Garcia before the national convention did not gain momentum to catapult him to prominence. It somehow backfired, as he lost the vice presidential nomination. The year 1957 proved bad for him.

Garcia won over Jose Yulo of the Liberal Party in the 1957 elections. But his running mate, Speaker Jose Laurel Jr., lost to Yulo’s mate Diosdado Macapagal, giving the country a mixed combination. Garcia lost in Manila, prompting Lacson to resign his post as mayor. But Garcia and other Nacionalista leaders prevailed on him to stay.

During this time, Lacson pursued several projects which could be regarded as his legacies for Manila. He initiated the lighting of Dewey Boulevard, later renamed Roxas Boulevard, the main thoroughfare in front of famed Manila Bay, the establishment of the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden in Harrison Park, the construction of the Quiapo Underpass, later renamed Lacson Underpass, and the modern slaughterhouse in Vitas, Tondo.

In the 1959 midterm elections, Lacson won for the third time, besting seven other mayoral candidates led by his vice mayor Jesus Marcos Roces, Rep. Augusto Franciso of Manila’s fourth district, and Liberal Party’s Rep. Salvador Marino of Manila’s first district. It was a landslide victory of Lacson over a divided opposition. But the surprise came with the election as vice mayor of Antonio Villegas of the Liberal Party.

Lacson and Villegas had acrimonious relations characterized by frequent fights that bordered on the ridiculous. For instance, Villegas insisted and, in fact, actually assumed the post of acting mayor whenever Lacson left to attend to speak in the provinces. Lacson was never happy with Villegas public display of unwarranted enthusiasm to become the acting mayor. But it was in 1960 when the colorful Manila mayor in a controversy that became the talk of the country.

On March 16, 1960, Lacson filed charges against Marcelino Calinawan Jr., whom Garcia appointed as presidential assistant to look into the alleged corruption at the Bureau of Customs. Lacson alleged Calinawan received a salary as lieutenant commander, when he was not commissioned in that military position. This provoked Calinawan, prompting him to issue pubic statements that were personal to Lacson.

Knowing that Lacson had the goods on him, Calinawan alleged that since Lacson’s father was an illegitimate child, he did not have the right to use the surname Lacson. Calinawan claimed that his father was listed as Ledesma in the Talisay Church’s baptismal registry, but somehow managed to change his surname to Lacson. Ergo, the mayor did not have the right to carry the name Lacson, making him “the biggest fake.”

In Lacson’s view, what Calinawan did was below the belt. He did not have to drag his parents’ name and honor to the controversy. This pushed him to challenge Calinawan to a gun duel, of which the latter obliged because he was younger and bigger. Lacson sent him a note specifying the place, date, and time of the gun duel. Capt. James Barbers, Lacson’s aide, personally delivered the note to him.

The ballyhooed gun duel was set to take place on the following Monday, 3 pm, in front of the Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. Many political leaders dissuaded the two protagonists to desist mainly because dueling is illegal in the country. But the two persisted in what appeared to be their final appointment with destiny.

From his suite at the Filipinas Hotel (it burned down in late 1977) along Roxas Boulevard, Lacson and his aides went the the Rizal Monument at exactly 2:50 pm, bringing with him a .357 Magnum revolver as his weapon for the duel. He felt uncomfortable to see a huge contingent of mediamen waiting to cover the duel.

Defense Secretary Alejo Santos and Brig. Gen. Antonio de Veyra rushed to the scene to stop Lacson, but the latter was adamant, telling them that Calinawan went too far by insulting his parents and ancestors. It was no-show for Calinawan. By 3:15 pm, Lacson left, hitching a ride in Santos’s car, which took him to the Manila Zoo, where the mayor later acted as guide to show the new animals.

Calinawan arrived a few minutes after Lacson left, but he stayed in an area near the Rizal Monument, as a contingent of Philippine Constabulary officers stopped him. He was unarmed. He told the PC officials he did not bring any firearm because he thought the duel would be with bare fists because gun duel was against the law. He lamented the fact that Lacson made what he described a “public show” of the supposed gun duel.

Lacson spent the rest of 1960 and 1961 feuding with Villegas, who liked to assume the post of acting mayor, whenever Lacson went out of town for speaking engagements, and barking at politicians who like to nominate him for the 1961 presidential elections. He declared he would not support Garcia in his reelection bid in 1961. But he and Villegas later had a reconciliation to work closely for Manila.

In the run-up of the 1961 presidential elections, Lacson supported Senate President Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez, who openly feuded with Garcia after the latter reneged on his earlier promise that he would not seek a reelection. But Rodriguez and Lacson were outmaneuvered by Garcia’s supporters within the Nacionalista Party.

This prompted Lacson to resign from the Nacionalista Party, an initiative which was not acted upon immediately. But Lacson, although a nominal Nacionalista, chose to assume the post of campaign manager of the Liberal Party ticket of Vice President Diosdado Macapagal and Sen. Emmanuel Pelaez.

Macapagal and Pelaez won over the tandem of Garcia and Sen. Gil Puyat. Lacson campaigned vigorously for the winning ticket, wowing the public with his oratorical skills during the political campaign. In fact, Lacson was always the last to speak in every political rally because people waited for his fire and brimstone. Lacson had gained the reputation for being a skillful orator, who could hold his audience in awe.

The Nacionalista leaders did not act on Lacson’s resignation, although it was generally conceded that his presence as campaign manager of the political campaign was a big factor for the political victory of the Macapagal-Pelaez ticket. Lacson remained with the Nacionalista Party mainly through the efforts of Rodriguez, who as party president and Lacson’s staunch ally, kept him off the political Siberia.

But his association with the Liberal Party, which became the party in power, had political dividends. Although Lacson was a nominal Nacionalista, he was able to swing concessions from the party in power, which included legislations for the construction of reclamation projects extending Manila North Harbor and Manila South Harbor,  a big part of which is now the Manila International Container Port, a modern-day hospital, now the Ospital ng Maynila, and the establishment of a Manila university, now the Pamantasan ng Maynila.

Lacson had other sterling ideas for Manila, most of which were not pursued because of his death. These included the construction of an oceanarium to be located in a lot adjacent to the Manila Zoo (this is now occupied by Harrison Plaza), terminals at the boundaries for provincial buses, the conversion of the Manila City Jail into a modern national jail, and a multi-level parking building in Plaza Binondo.

On the political front, Lacson was elected chair of the League of Provincial Governors and City Mayor with Tarlac Governor Benigno Aquino Jr. as his secretary-general. Lacson took steps to sustain the Philippine claim of sovereignty over the North Bornean state of Sabah He went publicly to urge for the settlement of the proprietary rights of the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu over the state, which was then to become part of Malaysia federation.

Although his relations with Macapagal was getting sour because the frequents raids were done in Manila without informing him, Lacson’s popularity soared, making him viable for the 1965 presidential elections. Political pundits claimed his time had indeed come. But it was not something meant to be. His political stars never came.

On April 15, 1962, an Easter Sunday, Lacson suffered a heart attack, his first, leading to his death. The circumstances of his death were quite confusing- or conflicting. One version said he was at his Earnshaw home, preparing details for his radio program. Another version said he played golf at the Wack-Wack Golf Course in Mandaluyong  and even had a talk with Rodriguez.

Lacson had lunch with his family at his home. He even cooked food for the family. By 2 pm, he left for Filipinas Hotel, where he had a suite. By 5 pm, he woke up and called up friend Nick Osmena, son of former president Sergio Osmena Sr., asking him to listen to his radio program, where he intended to discuss the claim over Sabah. By 5:40 pm, a hotel boy received a call from Lacson asking for some ice.

Pablo Olazo, the hotel staff, brought ice to him, but he saw the mayor was in pain and perspiring. He informed the mayor’s aides, who rushed to his room. Lacson asked them to summon his personal physician at the nearby Manila Doctors’ Hospital. Lacson even raised his hand, but he collapsed into the arms of one of his aides.

Dr. Godofredo Banzon, the first doctor to arrive, administered emergency medicine to the mayor, but he died anyway. A second and third doctor arrived, but they all saw him dead. News of his death jolted the entire city and the country. By almost midnight, news of his death was flashed over radio and TV.  It was the newspapers’ headline the following day.

Macapagal declared a four-day national mourning. His internment was set on April 18 at the Manila North Cemetery, The book said nearly a million attended his funeral procession. He was buried at noontime.

Postscript to Lacson’s Death

The book discussed issues of Lacson’s death that has reached the level of urban legends. One of the issues was the gossip that actress Rosario Violeta Solis Hernandez, aka Charito Solis, was beside Lacson when he died. Rumors said some people saw Charito Solis running half naked away from Filipino Hotel, when mayor was having his heart attack. In fact, it had become a sick joke when men would naughtily say that Lacson’s death was not a case of DoA, or dead on arrival, but DoT, or dead on top. Solis died in 1998.

The book said the following: “Over the years, she (Charito Solis) was subjected to some foul gossips that she was supposed with (Lacson) on that fateful April 15, 1962. There are various versions … that have refused to fade.

“At that time, Solis was already an international movie actress. She had been going in and out of the country due to her international commitments. In fact, she was being considered to a film to be produced by famed Italian producer Dino de Laurentis. It was but natural for her to catch the fancy of men, whether from the industry or beyond it.

“On April 11, 1962, Solis arrived at the Manila International Airport. She and her sister had just come from Tokyo, where she had attended to the preparation of a movie she was about to shoot with a Japanese actor, Kujiro Hongo.

“So, at the time of Lacson’s untimely death … Solis was in the Philippines. But was she there beside the mayor at the time of his death? Two people who were friends of Solis swore that they were with the actress on that day.

“When interviewed on the matter, James Barbers laughed loudly and said there was no truth to the foul story. It was unfair, Barbers said of the rumor.”

Despite all the brickbats against Lacson and charges that he enriched himself while in power, Lacson died a poor man. He did not have a fat bank account. He did not leave any piece of property except the Earnshaw residence, which was a gift to them by his rich parents-in-law. His wife and kids had to work to earn a living.

But he showed how to live a life of integrity as a public official. Although his wit and humor and courage was unparalleled, Lacson has enriched the country’s political history by becoming a model of upright living for every public official.