SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday assured the public that ridding the streets of “kotong”, where jeepney drivers lose some P300 a day to crooked policemen, will be one of the first priorities under his presidency.

Lacson said he rid the Philippine National Police of mulcting policemen when he headed the police force from 1999 to 2001.

“Ito puwede kong ipangako — ang kotong sa kalsada mawawala,” he said.

The senator said that he led by example and did not allow corruption, much less extortion, among his men.

Before that, he said traders and dealers would give their drivers an extra P1,000 as “panlagay sa highway” or grease money.

Lacson, who is running for President under Partido Reporma, recalled how his late father Buenaventura would come home tired and stressed after being victimized by kotong cops.

This influenced him to stop the kotong culture in the police force.

His stopping of the kotong culture in the PNP, as well as other reforms, earned the PNP — and himself as its chief — high approval ratings from the public, as well as their trust.