Lacson alarmed by daily executions, urges gov’t action

Sen. Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Senator Panfilo Lacson sounded the alarm on Monday over daily killings in the country as he urged the government to address the “vigilante-type” execution of alleged drug personalities.

“For someone like me who’s not a human rights advocate to get worried about the daily killings, something very wrong must be going on,” Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police, wrote on his Twitter account Sunday.

The senator said the peace and order situation in the country was becoming worrisome as two-thirds or about 4,000 of the reported 6,000 killings were allegedly perpetrated by vigilante groups.

“I would advise General (Ronald) dela Rosa to form a special task force composed of intelligence and investigative personnel to address this particular issue,” he said in an interview at the Senate on Monday, referring to the so-called deaths under investigation or DUI.

“Sa ngayon masyadong maliit yung percentage ng solution. We want to see more vigorous, more vigilant effort on the part of the PNP, the NBI and the entire government,” Lacson said, adding the vigilante killings were becoming alarming.

“If we talk of 6,000, that’s 4,000. Wala pa tayong six months, di ba?” he said.

Lacson said he already talked about this matter with some PNP officials while the Senate justice committee was investigating the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country and told them to solve the problem or be accused of being behind it.

Up to now, he said, the solution rate of the police is very low.

Lacson said the special task force that he was proposing should not only address the vigilante killings but also find out why such cases were on the rise.

“Yung iba nag surrender na sa Tokhang tapos napapatay pa. It doesn’t speak well of peace and order efforts of PNP,” he said.

“Hihintayin pa ba natin na magkaroon ng maraming pressure from within… from the outside tungkol sa nagyayaring death under investigation?” the senator said. CBB/rga