Amid recent incidents of school violence, including the Tacloban school shooting last June, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson said Thursday that he misses the brand of discipline from parents and teachers of his generation that helped keep young people from turning to crime.
Lacson recalled that his generation was taught discipline at home and in school by their parents and teachers, whose guidance – and at times, tough love – instilled respect, responsibility and accountability at an early age.
“JUVENILE JUSTICE LAW: My generation must be missing our fathers’ belts, our mothers’ bamboo sticks and our teachers’ rulers. We were disciplined, always at home for the 6 o’clock evening prayers to receive our daily blessings from our elders. Those were the days,” Lacson wrote on X.
On Wednesday, the Senate’s hearing on the shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City revealed that the two minors behind the deadly incident may have been manipulated by 764, an international online network of violent extremists.
The hearing also disclosed that one of the shooters allegedly shot his own best friend in the back during the June 22 incident.
The Tacloban school shooting was one of several recent incidents of violence in schools that fueled renewed calls for measures to address youth violence and delinquency.
Lacson recalled that when he was in elementary school, he and his siblings learned discipline from their mother Maxima, a strict disciplinarian who once ordered his elder brother to find and return a one-centavo coin he found while going home from school.
He also recalled that his mother would spank him if he came home late. But after disciplining him, she would also cry and remind him not to be hardheaded.
Lacson said such tough love helped instill the values of integrity and discipline that guided him throughout his public service career as law enforcer and lawmaker.
