VP Robredo: I’m just getting started

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo has no intention of backing out from the fight against illegal drugs despite her removal as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

“If they think this would end here, they don’t know me. I’m just starting,” Robredo said yesterday in a speech she delivered in Filipino in her hometown of Naga City.

Robredo said her dismissal as ICAD co-chair – a post she held for 19 days might be due to Malacañang’s fears that she would discover something in the course of waging her version of the war on drugs.

“When I accepted this job, my first question was ‘Are they ready for me?’ now I ask them: what are you afraid of? What are you afraid I might discover? What are you afraid the public might discover?” Robredo said.

The Vice President’s statement came less than 24 hours after President Duterte announced her dismissal as ICAD co-chair.

“In the coming days I will give a report to the people. I will reveal what I discovered and my recommendations,” Robredo said.

“I assure you that even if I was stripped of the position, my determination to stop the killings, to make those accountable pay and to win our campaign against illegal drugs remains,” she said.

Robredo, a human rights lawyer, said she accepted the post despite warnings that this was a mere “trap” to shame her, the position being “non-existent.”

“It has been just over two weeks since I ignored all the warnings to take on this job that is almost impossible, but I gave it a try for our countrymen,” she said.

The Vice President said she did not waste her time after her appointment on Nov. 6.

She sat down with members of ICAD, consulted different sectors and visited community-based rehabilitation centers for drug dependents and drug-infested communities.

Robredo, however, said her political opponents and critics “ganged up” to ensure her failure.

“The attacks immediately started. The criticisms have been persistent. They said I don’t know anything about crime. They said I shouldn’t meddle with police’s job. They said I can’t be trusted. They ganged up on me so I will not succeed,” she said.

“Aren’t they serious in this fight? Or did I crash into some vested interest?” she asked.

“Mr. President, I didn’t ask for this position. But the task you gave me is serious. What the people want is a government that could champion the fight against illegal drugs. Let’s remember that our enemies here are drugs and the drug lords, it’s not me, not even the citizens,” she said.

Days after her appointment, Robredo met with officials of the United Nations office on drugs and crime and the US embassy to learn from the “best practices” of other countries in solving the drug menace.

Duterte appointed Robredo as a “drug czar” on Oct. 31 after she criticized his war on drugs that has killed over 5,700 suspects.

In an interview with Reuters, the Vice President said the government should stop its anti-illegal drug campaign, which she said was “obviously not working.”

On Nov. 19, the President said he does not trust the Vice President with classified information related to the government’s drug war, calling her a “scatterbrain” with “kneejerk” impulses.

He also accused Robredo of reaching out to International Criminal Court prosecutors in connection with the government’s controversial campaign.

The Vice President said she has always been willing to help the administration but she would never give up her principles.

“If he (Duterte) thinks I’ll accept (the brutal drug war) and I’ll keep silent, he is wrong,” Robredo said.

Prior to her ICAD post, Robredo had a brief stint in the Duterte Cabinet in 2016.

She was appointed chief of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, but quit after five months as Duterte barred her from attending Cabinet meetings.

Continue the advocacy

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman urged Robredo to continue her “anti-violence advocacy in the administration’s bloody anti-drug war.”

“She should pursue that advocacy as Vice President. She should pursue her health-based approach to the drug problem despite the fact that the President is treating it as a police matter,” Lagman said.

He said Robredo should also work for “community-based rehabilitation” of drug addicts.

Lagman is a member of the opposition Liberal Party, which Robredo chairs. He said the Vice President “was set up to fail” the moment she accepted Duterte’s offer for her to co-head ICAD with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino.

“In the first place, the President’s offer was not serious. It was a kneejerk reaction to the Vice President’s criticism of the President’s anti-drug war. The problem with the Vice President is that she took the offer and her job seriously,” he said.

Lagman said Robredo, as co-leader of the anti-drug campaign, “was doing very well.”

“The President would not let her succeed in a campaign where he dismally failed. That’s why he fired her.”

He said the list of high value targets in the anti-drug campaign Robredo was seeking from Aquino should not be considered a state secret.

Lagman said Duterte himself has repeatedly made the list public by naming those in it, including politicians, policemen, lawmakers, barangay officials and private citizens allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

Questioned

Rights defenders questioned Malacañang’s sincerity in appointing Robredo as ICAD co-chair.

“Vice President Robredo barely warmed her seat before President Duterte fired her as co-chairperson of the ICAD. Was his offer of involving her in finding solutions to the situation of drugs in the Philippines ever really serious?” Carlos Conde, Asia researcher of Human Rights Watch, said.

“He didn’t even give Robredo the chance to show what she could do to make the campaign against drugs effective and, most important, non-violent and rights-respecting,” he added.

Conde said by firing Robredo on such ludicrous grounds, Duterte showed he was never sincere and exposed his game to appoint her as a total sham.

“Robredo does a great service to the Filipino people and her country by continuing her strong criticism of the rights abusing drug war and demanding accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes against human rights,” he said.

Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) also said Duterte was never serious in offering the post to Robredo.

“He expected her to decline and stand down from her criticism of the drug war. He did not expect her to accept and to perform her mandate. He did not expect her to call his bluff,” the group said.

Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said the real reason why Duterte fired her was because she wanted to change the conduct of the failed drug war.

“She wanted to expose corruption and other misdeeds. She wanted an end to extrajudicial killings. Duterte did not want those. And so Robredo had to go,” Reyes said.

“In this entire episode, it is Duterte who looks weak and politically amateurish. He had been outwitted by the VP. More importantly, the problems of the drug war continue to be discussed and continue to demand solutions. With Robredo out, we expect business as usual for the corrupt implementors, the ninja cops, the syndicates, the masked killers and everyone else involved in the bloody, corrupt and fake war on drugs,” he added.

Regret

Senators expressed regret over the firing of Robredo, even as they said the sensitive post required the full trust and confidence of President Duterte.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Robredo’s appointment to the ICAD was based on Duterte’s trust.

“Once trust is lost, the position is lost. We have a word for it in Filipino: sayang,” Sotto said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said he knows how it feels to be an appointee, being a member of the Cabinet in the Aquino administration, and that the matter is a “trust issue.”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the President has the prerogative to appoint and remove officials, but the incident could have been avoided if there were open lines of communication between the two.

He said Duterte and Robredo should have met immediately after her appointment to set parameters as well as the scope of her mandate. – With Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva, Paolo Romero