Lacson wants weekly execution of drug pushers

President Arroyo should immediately order the weekly execution of prisoners convicted of major drug offenses to prove her administration is serious in its war against illegal drugs, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

Lacson approved of the President’s announcement that she would not allow a moratorium on the execution of drug convicts.

"I am glad that the President mentioned that she will not allow moratorium on the execution of drug convicts. She should start by executing at least once a week the 38 drug convicts in Muntinlupa," Lacson told ANC’s Talkback Monday night.

The 38 prisoners have had their death sentences affirmed by the Supreme Court and are detained at the New Bilibid Prisons.

While Lacson said the Arroyo administration has been "fulfilling its promise" in its fight against the drug menace, he expressed doubt on the worth of illegal drugs confiscated by law enforcers "over the past five weeks," cited by the President in her speech.

"The P8 billion worth of illegal drugs confiscated, whether due to luck or sheer competence of law enforcement units, mukhang minamasahe iyong figures eh (the figures may have been manipulated)," he said.

Lacson added that efforts to bring peace and order to the country are "still wanting," while corruption remains prevalent in various government agencies.

The President said in her speech delivered before Congress that "it will be difficult to keep the moratorium on death penalty" for the "big fish" involved in the narcotics business. There have been no executions of death row convicts in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines since 1999 when a moratorium on capital punishment was imposed following a strong lobby by the Church and human rights groups.

But there is a growing clamor for capital punishment to be implemented anew due to the rising crime rate.

There are about a thousand people on death row in the Philippines where possession of large amounts of illegal drugs is punishable by death through lethal injection.