A Thank You Message from Alex "Pinoy" Lacson
May 12, 2010 Dear Friends,
Last December 1, when I finally decided to run for the Senate, I remember my wife asking me out loud – “how are we going to do this?" My answer, as it has always been since then, was that God will provide. At that moment, we had no preparations of any kind for a Senate campaign – no staff, no organization, no political machinery, no campaign funds. Literally, we were on ground zero. I remember to this day the first prayer I made – I asked God to send me wonderful people who can help me on this new journey. Five and half months later, I can tell you, with much gratitude and humility, that God indeed provides. Truly, He has sent me many wonderful people – patriotic, generous and hopeful – who are committed to work for the change we all desire to see in our country. In particular, I was amazed by the thousands who responded to our call for small donations of even just P5, P25 or P100. These small donors came from different sectors -- from students, teachers, nuns, priests, bishops, farmers, drivers, OFWs, government employees, nurses, doctors, professionals, businessmen, senior citizens, among others. Various groups organized garage sales, lugawans, book sales, fundraising breakfasts, cocktails and dinners. A day before election day, a group of nuns from the Visayas still insisted on giving a donation, despite my telling them that the campaign was over. On May 10, we still received donations in kind and small amounts through SMS. The Little Things counted. Apart from donors, we had thousands of volunteers from all over the country, many of them anonymous, printing and putting up their own materials, spreading the word through text and Internet, giving out sample ballots, calling friends and relatives, and joining rallies, motorcades, palengke runs, and prayer vigils. One of the most heart-warming stories for me in this campaign was the story of Susan Leonor, a volunteer from Manapla, Negros Occidental. A few months ago, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. But almost everyday in the last 3 months, Susan has been campaigning for me in different places in the province. Her story made me cry. Another volunteer, an old man in a wheel chair, kept on calling relatives, friends and unknown people in the phonebook directory asking them to vote for us. Truly, they – along with all of you, my dear friends – are among the many wonderful people God sent to help me on this journey. Thank you so much for all your encouragement, prayers and support. You are a wonderful blessing for me and my family. I truly thank God for all of you. It has been an exhausting campaign, sometimes funny (we should run a contest on how many times I had to answer the question "kaano-ano mo ba si Ping?), and oftentimes humbling and enriching as I listened to the hopes and dreams of our countrymen. Last year, I embarked on this journey because of a dream – a dream of a better Philippines, where every child gets a good education, where every graduate is able to find a job, where every father has a reliable source of income, where every Filipino family has a decent house to go home to, where the Filipino and his family can be assured of a beautiful future, in the land where God planted them. I am honored to share that dream with you.I shall be honored to pursue that dream with you.Please keep the faith – the faith in the Filipino as well as in our power to build a better future for our people. Our faith is the most important element in making our dream come true. We are now 14,000 strong in Facebook, and despite being one of the newest and least-known faces in the Senate race, we garnered around 5 million votes nationwide.The challenge now is – What can we do? What must we do? Mga kapatid, please help me inspire these 5 million voters to become heroes for our country, through small acts of patriotism, wherever they may be in our archipelago.In this regard, I hope to have a continuing conversation with you, if not personally, then on this page. I hope that we can continue sharing stories and exchanging ideas on how we can pursue our Dream Philippines. Change has come. We are the change.Always,
Last December 1, when I finally decided to run for the Senate, I remember my wife asking me out loud – “how are we going to do this?" My answer, as it has always been since then, was that God will provide. At that moment, we had no preparations of any kind for a Senate campaign – no staff, no organization, no political machinery, no campaign funds. Literally, we were on ground zero. I remember to this day the first prayer I made – I asked God to send me wonderful people who can help me on this new journey. Five and half months later, I can tell you, with much gratitude and humility, that God indeed provides. Truly, He has sent me many wonderful people – patriotic, generous and hopeful – who are committed to work for the change we all desire to see in our country. In particular, I was amazed by the thousands who responded to our call for small donations of even just P5, P25 or P100. These small donors came from different sectors -- from students, teachers, nuns, priests, bishops, farmers, drivers, OFWs, government employees, nurses, doctors, professionals, businessmen, senior citizens, among others. Various groups organized garage sales, lugawans, book sales, fundraising breakfasts, cocktails and dinners. A day before election day, a group of nuns from the Visayas still insisted on giving a donation, despite my telling them that the campaign was over. On May 10, we still received donations in kind and small amounts through SMS. The Little Things counted. Apart from donors, we had thousands of volunteers from all over the country, many of them anonymous, printing and putting up their own materials, spreading the word through text and Internet, giving out sample ballots, calling friends and relatives, and joining rallies, motorcades, palengke runs, and prayer vigils. One of the most heart-warming stories for me in this campaign was the story of Susan Leonor, a volunteer from Manapla, Negros Occidental. A few months ago, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. But almost everyday in the last 3 months, Susan has been campaigning for me in different places in the province. Her story made me cry. Another volunteer, an old man in a wheel chair, kept on calling relatives, friends and unknown people in the phonebook directory asking them to vote for us. Truly, they – along with all of you, my dear friends – are among the many wonderful people God sent to help me on this journey. Thank you so much for all your encouragement, prayers and support. You are a wonderful blessing for me and my family. I truly thank God for all of you. It has been an exhausting campaign, sometimes funny (we should run a contest on how many times I had to answer the question "kaano-ano mo ba si Ping?), and oftentimes humbling and enriching as I listened to the hopes and dreams of our countrymen. Last year, I embarked on this journey because of a dream – a dream of a better Philippines, where every child gets a good education, where every graduate is able to find a job, where every father has a reliable source of income, where every Filipino family has a decent house to go home to, where the Filipino and his family can be assured of a beautiful future, in the land where God planted them. I am honored to share that dream with you.I shall be honored to pursue that dream with you.Please keep the faith – the faith in the Filipino as well as in our power to build a better future for our people. Our faith is the most important element in making our dream come true. We are now 14,000 strong in Facebook, and despite being one of the newest and least-known faces in the Senate race, we garnered around 5 million votes nationwide.The challenge now is – What can we do? What must we do? Mga kapatid, please help me inspire these 5 million voters to become heroes for our country, through small acts of patriotism, wherever they may be in our archipelago.In this regard, I hope to have a continuing conversation with you, if not personally, then on this page. I hope that we can continue sharing stories and exchanging ideas on how we can pursue our Dream Philippines. Change has come. We are the change.Always,
