MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo believes that true leaders are measured not by their intelligence but by the choices they make in life.
“Many are called competent, many are called intelligent, but the real measure of a leader is the choices he or she makes. All the time,” Robredo said during the Angat Buhay Young Leaders in Government Fellowship graduation ceremony in Quezon City yesterday, as she urged young civil servants to end the culture of the blame game in workplaces.
The Vice President also said a true leader is one who finds solutions despite the “many limitations.”
“Our main weapon is ourselves. The challenge really is how to find your light in the midst of darkness. How to find solutions in an environment where the limitations given to you are just too much,” Robredo said. “What I expect from you is to go beyond the status quo. The easiest is to choose the easy way out. ‘I will not just voice my opinion to avoid conflict.’”
President Duterte on Sunday fired Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), just 19 days after appointing her to the position.
Duterte said he does not trust Robredo, a leader of the opposition, with classified matters related to the war on drugs.
The Vice President, however, said she would not back out from the fight against illegal drugs despite her removal as ICAD co-chair.
The Vice President is one of the vocal critics of Duterte’s controversial campaign, which has claimed the lives of thousands of drug suspects.
Many have belittled Robredo’s capability to lead the drug war, with Duterte himself repeatedly expressing doubt on the Vice President’s ability to lead the county.
“It’s easy to pass the blame on others. But a true leader will say, ‘Even if my boss is uninspiring, I’ll still perform my job well. Even if my work is difficult, I’ll still do it well,” Robredo said.
“I will not be affected even if my boss is hindering all the things that I do. If my boss tries to restrict me, I’ll find other ways,” she said.
Robredo added that she would continue to do her part to help the war on drugs succeed.
Caught in his own trap
For Sen. Leila de Lima, Robredo’s removal from ICAD less than three weeks into her appointment is proof that Duterte is afraid to let her win the anti-narcotics campaign in the country.
De Lima yesterday maintained that Duterte effectively admitted he was defeated in his challenge for Robredo to rid the country of illegal drugs when he unceremoniously fired her as the country’s drug czar.
“Fellow Filipinos, somebody blinked. In a not so lengthy stare fest between our two highest ranking government officials, there was one who could no longer hold it and voluntarily gave up in the challenge on who has courage and strength,” she said in Filipino.
“By firing VP Leni Robredo, he has admitted that he was caught in his own trap, defeated in his own challenge and thoroughly exposed as a man without honor and whose word is as good as the next lie that comes out of his big mouth,” she added.
Robredo accepted Duterte’s dare for her to sit as ICAD co-chair on Nov. 6 despite well-meaning warnings from her allies that it could be a trap doomed to fail.
More than two weeks later, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo confirmed that Duterte decided to fire the Vice President from her post for allegedly using the post for “grandstanding.”
Duterte has publicly admitted he did not want Robredo to hold a Cabinet post because he does not trust her and that he disliked how the Vice President consulted international organizations in her short stint as drug czar.
During her tenure, Robredo visited community-based rehabilitation centers for drug dependents and drug-infested communities and consulted officials from the United States and United Nations.
De Lima explained that Duterte showed the public that “Malacañang’s official stationery on which appointments are written is as good as toilet paper, and that his signature is worth a three-year-old’s doodle.”
“Senseless. Meaningless. Those are the words and signature of Duterte. And in his surrender in his own dare to Robredo, he finally put a period on the nation’s long unanswered question if his courage is genuine and solid,” she said in Filipino.
“The President finally blinked. Half-tailed and hands raised signifying that he would no longer fight, that his courage is pure imagination drawn on our senses by paid propagandists,” she added.
De Lima lauded Robredo’s unrelenting spirit and determination in solving the worsening illegal drug problem in the country despite efforts by some pro-administration allies to discredit her. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe