The momentum of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs is doing great, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Wednesday.
On that premise, Lacson renewed his opposition to Senator Leila de Lima’s proposal for the upper chamber to investigate drug-related killings.
“The momentum is great. Never before that several people have been surrendering, drug users and drug pushers. Thousands have been surrendering. But the ugly side is everyday, there are drug pushers being killed,” Lacson said. “Maybe Senator De Lima is right that there is a ground to suspect that this is summary execution. But there are no witnesses to say so. My attitude is that there are investigating bodies to handle this. Let the law enforcement agencies of the PNP [Philippine National Police], NBI [National Bureau of Investigation)]and PDEA [Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency], do their thing,” said Lacson during the Kapihan Sa Manila Bay Forum, Café Adriatico, Manila.
“If the Senate would come in this would be a fishing expedition. That’s what I do not want. The initiative on the campaign against illegal drugs might back track because of the Senate. The momentum and the initiatives now are doing good. That’s why I am against the proposal of De Lima to call for an investigation on this. There are agencies who can do the investigation,” stressed Lacson.
“I pity the police if they are doing their work. There might be a fishing expedition [in the Senate expedition],” he said.
“I remember the first time he was not yet designated as Chief PNP he requested for meeting, Gen. Dela Rosa said there is a 60 percent supply of shabu inside National Bilibid Prison. Is it true? That’s true,” said Lacson.
Lacson also said he supported the call of President Rodrigo Duterte for the revival of Death Penalty.
“The Death Penalty Law should be passed here. In China, you will be executed. If we have death penalty, that would be a deterrent. When death penalty law was lifted, rape incidents went up. Based on my experience as a law enforcers, death penalty is a deterrent. That’s why I am pushing it,” Lacson said.
“For me it should be by lethal injection since we already have the equipment. And I don’t like to see them shaking when they are hung,” when asked what kind of execution he would support.
“What could be worse is when you know when you will be executed,” said Lacson.
Lacson revealed that chemists are now being exported to the Philippines to make shabu.
He said that the drug lords have been jailed, but the production of illegal drugs is still continuing.
“Drug lords are living luxuriously, living style. They hold the prison guards and even prison officials. Drastic moves should really be made to stop this. For me, there should a shock action,” Lacson said.
He said the Philippines is being used as a transshipment of cocaine.
He said Filipinos are not regular users of cocaine. It’s poor man’s coke, or shabu being used here.
“Our institutions are weak. Even if they are caught, they can buy their way out. Even if they are jailed for life, they live in luxury and are happy about this. Maybe this is the time to pass the death penalty law,” he said.
He said improvement or review of laws in the penal system must be made.
Lacson said the proposal to relocate the National Bilibid Prisons to a remote island must be thoroughly be reviewed.
“There might be a logistics problem. If the case is still pending, how can we conduct the hearings? Maybe the hearings could be made there in the island if possible. Physical configuration is so designed that it would be impossible to bring in illegal drugs, and impossible for inmates to escape,” said Lacson.
Lacson also revealed that Duterte’s announcement about politicians involvement on more illegal drugs is based on information given to him by intelligence agencies such as the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and these are validated information.
“No information will be kept from the president. He could access all of these informations,” said Lacson.
“There must be proactive and aggressive actions. But I did not support summary executions,” said Lacson.
On the other hand, when asked if there are incumbent senators or congressmen involved in illegal drugs, Lacson replied, “Baka users (maybe users). No information.”
In a related development, Lacson also supported the government’s plan to have a National Identification Card or National I.D.