By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
QUEZON CITY — Senator Imee Marcos and former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday (Oct. 16) led the celebration of the “World Pandesal Day” at the 85-year-old Kamuning Bakery Cafe.
The celebration was done with the distribution of 100,000 Pandesal breads and other foods to urban poor families, and orphanages.
Leaders and celebrities led by Lacson and Sen. Marcos spearheaded the annual World Pandesal Day civic and cultural project to honor the humble yet famous Filipino Pandesal and to highlight the need to solve the age-old worldwide problem of hunger.
Both Marcos and Lacson are running for Senator as Independent candidate in the May 12, 2025 midterm elections.
During the Pandesal Forum, Sen. Marcos said that she is an Independent candidate but with an alliance with a political party.
She said that today is the Independent Pandesal Day in the midst of the increase in the price of petroleum products and food products.
Marcos said that for 2025 she would like to serve again as Senator, citing that many Filipino farmers have benefitted in the condonation of loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries as well as the strengthening of cooperatives nationwide which are parts of solutions to address the problem of hunger in the country.
She expressed the fears that by 2030, all the food and agricultural products in the country will be imported.
Marcos had pushed for the enactment of the Creative Industries Law, which created the Creative Industries Council.
She stressed that there’s a need to know other platforms of movies and films such as in the Netflix.
Marcos said that there are lots of stocks of rice in South Cotabato, but the cost of rice is high, adding that there was a decrease in the tariff of imported rice but the cost still remains high.
She expressed the hope that the problems of the agricultural and cultural sector will be addressed in the face of increases in the cost of food and petroleum products
Lacson said that he is greeting the 10th World Pandesal Day, adding that he thought Pandesal is a Spanish word.
He missed the days that Pandesal were just delivered in the doorsteps of households of Filipino families.
Lacson stressed “the important thing is to stop the hunger of the Filipino people.”
“There are many unfinished business which should be addressed again,” Lacson.
Lacson had been in the Senate for the whole 18 years.
He noted that PHP300 billion savings directly or indirectly is lost to corruption, pointing out that for the last remaining days of his life he would still like to render public service.
Lacson stressed that the Philippines should learn from South Korea in the fields and films and creative industry which has penetrated not only Asia but the whole world.
He explained that the PHP300 billion “savings” is scrutinized during the deliberations of the National Budget in both Houses of Congress over the span of 18 years of Lacson in the Senate on “alignments” or “insertions” in the proposed budget.
Lacson questioned the PHP8.3 billion inserted in the budget of the DPWH for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Over 100 years, Lacson said, the Senate had been renting for its office occupancy which has been frequented by dignitaries from around the world.
“It’s about time that the Senate has its own office building,” he said, adding that the PHP23-billion Senate Building complex in Taguig City may have been due to variations in the design and construction cost.
The term of reference of the new Senate Building was made in 2022 and it is estimated to be finished in 2026.
Lacson has always been against pork barrel which the Supreme Court (SC) has declared as unconstitutional.
However, the SC has released a definition of terms in the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for Members of both Houses of Congress.
He recalled that after the Noynoy Aquino administration, the foreign debt was at PHP5.3 trillion and after the Duterte administration it increased to PHP15 trillion plus and at the end at of the Bongbong Marcos administration, it is estimated to reach PHP25 trillion.
As former PNP Chief, Lacson said “I think the PNP Law should be revisited and the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) should be strengthened.”
He said that the IAS should be made independent from the PNP and be headed by a Director General although its personnel come from the PNP.
Lacson principally authored the “Free Irrigation Law” which provided for free irrigation to farmers in the Philippines.
He noted that the powerful Bicameral Committee (Bicam) of both Houses of Congress has no “transcript” of its budget deliberations of the proposed General Appropriations Act such that even if the Bicam report has been ratified, amendments or changes can still be made.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., Vice President Sara Duterte, Lacson, Sen. Marcos, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Rep. Camille Villar, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia and many others have earlier expressed their respective support for the civic and cultural project of World Pandesal Day.
Among others, joining the World Pandesal Day were YanYan, King Sue, Hobe, Mondelez International, San Miguel Mills, NASH, Caltex, Mega Prime Foods, Wheelstar, Clara Ole, PAGCOR, and OK.
According to Wilson Lee Flores, he bought the Kamuning Bakery Cafe from its original owners since 1939.
Flores noted that there’s no Pandesal in Spain and Mexico and it’s only in the Philippines that Pandesal has become popular Filipino food.