Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Lazo resigned his post as Bishop on May 28, 1993. He then lived with his cancer-stricken sister in Zamboanga City. He then came into contact with the Society of St. Pius X and began to identify himself as a Traditionalist Catholic, exclusively celebrating the Tridentine Mass by 1995. Appeals were made by Jaime Cardinal Sin and Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan for Lazo to discontinue his association with the SSPX, but he refused. In 1998, he made a Declaration of Faith to John Paul II, saying "obedience must serve faith", Lazo also said that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council were "aimed to destroy the Catholic Religion". He once described Judaism as "visible chief enemy of the Catholic Church". Lazo later died at age 81. His funeral Mass was celebrated by Bishop Bernard Fellay.