Personal attacks in the Senate: Media caught up in Marcos-Lacson verbal feud 

JEERS TO the news organizations that carried the word war between Senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Jr. and Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” Imee Marcos. The squabble was irrelevant to the current news about the national budget or the country’s state of affairs in general. Unfortunately, some news outfits could not resist reporting the exchange. 

The media have been carrying statements issued by either side since January 1. The exchange began with Marcos’ accusations that the 2026 budget contained pork barrel and that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has been barring certain senators from attending its meetings to probe flood control. Lacson eventually denied both charges and then claimed that Marcos herself could not criticize “pork” because she herself received pork components in the 2025 budget. 

In the week of January 12 to 18, the discourse between the two drifted away from pork barrel to take up critical comments about sexuality and physical appearances issued during press briefings or through social media pages – which media faithfully reported as news. 

Headlines such as “Imee: Does Ping want hair pulling match?” and “Ping: I’m straight, without face enhancement” were used in print (The Philippine Star). Other headlines online acknowledged the ongoing word war, quoting the remarks of both senators, who did not restrain themselves from defending their looks:  

• Lacson, Imee trade barbs over ‘personal attacks’ (GMA News Online)
• ‘Gigil yarn?’: Word war erupts between Marcos, Lacson over 2026 budget (Manila Bulletin)
• Ping vs. Imee word war gets personal (Manila Standard)

The verbal tussle also made it to broadcast. TV5’s January 14 edition of Frontline Pilipinas allocated almost five minutes picking up the back and forth between Marcos and Lacson within the first half of the newscast. The same report was made lengthier by the clips of Marcos’ video skits she posted on her social media account, in which she showed herself grinding pork and called Lacson a political butterfly. 

It was definitely a new low for political talk in the Senate, historically established as the higher chamber in whose halls some of the country’s statesmen had engaged the nation in the discussion of the most important issues of the time. 

The news of the day however picked up the trivialities, giving these politicians the media mileage they wanted, while shirking the journalistic duty to engage the public in an informed national discussion of the current issues of the day.