'What is this government hiding?': Karapatan slams Robredo removal as anti-drug czar
MANILA, Philippines — Human rights group Karapatan on Tuesday slammed the removal of Vice President Leni Robredo from her position as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs as a diversionary tactic.
They also hit the Duterte administration as insincere in their approach throughout Robredo's tenure, which lasted less than three weeks.
During Robredo's term as co-chair of the ICAD, Duterte held a press conference where he explicitly said that he did not trust the vice president because she was part of the opposition. He also said that all the information extended to her would be on a strict need to know basis only.
"As the seeming trap to humiliate Vice President Leni Robredo blew up catastrophically in the faces of Duterte and his cohorts, they are now desperately trying to backpedal," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay in a statement.
"They not only deprived Robredo of vital information and opportunity to perform her mandate, but now they are twisting her removal from [ICAD] by blaming her! What a circus!"
'Something anomalous is going on'
Palabay in her statement also said that the administration could be trying to get the people's attention away from the many issues plaguing the country's hosting of the SEA Games.
The public has been up in arms over the week after numerous gaps in the preparation of the PHISGOC for the games were revealed, with some on social media calling it a dismal performance on the part of the organizing committee. The games are set to kick off on Saturday, November 30.
"It is also notable that all this is happening with the SEA games fiasco at the backdrop, so this may all be another diversionary tactic to veer the conversation away from the corruption and gross incompetence very much floating on the surface," she added.
"So what is this government hiding from the public? This further fuels the suspicion that something anomalous is going on, and that uniformed criminals are being coddled in line with the drug war," Karapatan said.
Following her removal from her post, Robredo at a press conference expressed her intent to publicize her findings and recommendations from her time as ICAD co-chair in the coming days.
Robredo, too, voiced out the same question: “Ano ba ang kinatatakutan ninyong malaman ko? Ano ba ang kinatatakutan ninyong malaman ang taumbayan?”
(What are you scared of me finding out? What are you scared of the people finding out?)
'Firing Robredo won't save Duterte from probe'
In ending her speech, the vice president expressed her intent to continue her campaign for a bloodless "war on drugs" with or without her position.
"We voice out our support for Robredo to reveal the things she discovered, especially if it adds to the evidence that the killings were State-perpetrated," Karapatan said.
"However, we reiterate that firing Robredo would not save Duterte and his cohorts from investigation; it will not save them from their accountability in the numerous irregularities and abuses in this regime’s sham drug war.”
That the killings were sanctioned by the state has long been argued by human rights activists.
Rights groups say that the death toll since President Rodrigo Duterte took office has reached as high as 27,000. This number is refuted by that of the PNP, whose data only attributes the deaths of some 5,000 "drug personalities" to official police operations.
In the weeks that Robredo sat as ICAD co-chair, the vice president preached rehabilitation as part of a bloodless campaign against illegal drugs. During her radio show Sunday, she again stressed the need for accurate data and inter-sector collaboration.
“As the International Human Rights Day nears on December 10, we invite the vice president to join us in commemorating this event and to stand as one in the defense of human rights,” Palabay ended.
"There are still a multitude of platforms to seek accountability, and so we urge her to tread onwards."
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