MANILA — Several senators on Monday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration to act swiftly against a spate of reported abductions in the country.

Kidnapping reports are causing "uneasiness" among investors and the public, said Sen. JV Ejercito.

"Dapat siguro the authorities should act on it swiftly, para ipakita rin nila na talagang they are in control," Ejercito said.

(The authorities should act on it swiftly to show that they are really in control.)

"Any directive from the President is policy. And I think it will help so much, if the President himself, is on top of the situation. Talagang ipakita niya kaagad (he should immediately show) that the peace and order situation will be on his top priority," he added.

Sen. Christopher Go said, "Kailangan po na bigyan ninyo ng lakas ng loob yung ating law enforcement agencies na magtrabaho."

"Siguro konting takot pa, konting ngipin, konting takot para medyo, kung baga sa Bisaya, mag-kinto ang mga kriminal," he said.

(Government should embolden our law enforcement agencies. Perhaps we should put a little more teeth in law enforcement and a little more fear in criminals so they would hesitate.)

Both Ejercito and Sen. Grace Poe have filed resolutions seeking a Senate investigation into reported abductions.

"There is an urgent need to determine the status of these cases, possible motives, agency efforts to identify the perpetrators, and the measures instituted by relevant authorities to prevent the continuous abduction in the country," Poe said.

The PNP recently said it was preparing a "comprehensive" report on the alleged abductions and killings in Metro Manila and other areas.

Data from the PNP's Anti-Kidnapping Group showed that 25 incidents of kidnapping were reported from January to July this year, half of which had been resolved.

• Imee Marcos seeks probe on abductions, killings in PH

"That’s still a lot... That’s an average of probably, 4 to 5 a month. That’s still alarming," Ejercito said.

"There’s also intelligence reports that some Cambodian-Chinese syndicates are already in the country. So 'yan ang mga dapat nating tingnan (that's what we need to look into)," Ejercito said.

Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate public order committee, set a public hearing on the matter on Thursday, Sept. 15.

• PCCI claims 56 kidnapping cases happened in last 10 days
• Police rescue 2 kidnap victims; suspects killed

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