Robredo postpones release of 'drug war' report to call for quake relief
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo said Monday that she will push back the release of her report on the government’s "drug war" since rescue and relief efforts for those affected by the strong quake that rocked Davao del Sur on Sunday is more important.
Robredo instead called for unity and for relief to be given to victims of the magnitude 6.9 quake that jolted parts of southern Mindanao.
In a televised press conference, the vice president said in Filipino: “Due to the strong earthquake in Davao del Sur and nearby provinces like South Cotabato, we opted to postpone it.”
Showing the 40-page document to the members of media, Robredo apologized and acknowledged that the public is waiting for the release of her report from her less than a month as co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs.
"But due to what happened yesterday, let us postpone it," she said.
“For me, it is not the right timing to work on the report on ICAD when there is still time to talk about it. We think it is better that we all focus on how we can help the victims and our countrymen, especially that it is Christmas season, that even amid tragedy, they can feel the spirit of Christmas,” she also said.
President Rodrigo Duterte fired Robredo from the ICAD, mere weeks after he appointed her to the committee, and called her a “scatterbrain.” Amid her sacking, the vice president said she will release a report on the government’s drug war that is “recommendatory.”
The Philippine National Police for its part said that there is nothing to fear about Robredo’s report, “for as long as we have done our job properly.”
Police Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, deputy chief of PNP for operations, said in a livestreamed press conference: “The PNP is for law enforcement. We are for anti-criminality. If it’s political in nature, we do away with it. What we do is, just do our job, we enforce the law, we keep peace and order.”
Call for relief
She said her team from the Office of the Vice President will be going to affected areas in Mindanao, adding that they received a report from the Davao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of at least eight people dead.
She called for tents, drinking water and generator to be lent to the victims.
"The problem is not only the strong earthquake yesterday but the fact that these are successive strong quakes," she added.
Strong earthquakes hit the region in October and November and some towns, particularly in the Cotabato provinces, are still recovering from those.
The vice president also said she ordered Christmas celebrations in their office to be “scaled down” and simple, stressing that helping the Davao and Soccsksargen regions is more urgent.
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