{"id":237153,"date":"2019-11-11T21:49:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T02:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=237153"},"modified":"2019-11-11T21:49:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T02:49:27","slug":"robredo-can-scrap-oplan-tokhang-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/11\/robredo-can-scrap-oplan-tokhang-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Robredo can scrap \u2018Oplan Tokhang\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Panelo said Robredo can put a stop to a program that involves police visits to known drug addicts, \u201cbecause it is within her powers as drug czar\u201d. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Newly-appointed drug czar, Vice President Leni Robredo can scrap Oplan Tokhang if she can suggest more effective ways to solve the country’s illegal drug problem, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she wants to scrap it,\u00a0eh siya ang<\/em>\u00a0(she\u2019s) anti-drug czar,\u00a0kung sa tingin niya mas<\/em>\u00a0(if she thinks it\u2019s more) effective,\u00a0mayroon pang mas<\/em>\u00a0effective sa Tokhang\u00a0eh di gawin niya<\/em>\u00a0(there are other programs more effective than Tokhang, she can do it),\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

Panelo said Robredo can put a stop to a program that involves police visits to known drug addicts, \u201cbecause it is within her powers as drug czar\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have said, we will give her all that she needs. She should be given a wide latitude and she should pursue her own scheme of things in pursuing the drug war initiated by this administration,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that just because Robredo was free to scrap Oplan Tokhang, does not mean that she would want to do so eventually.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi natin alam<\/em>\u00a0(We don\u2019t know). I cannot speculate on what VP Leni wants. We have to wait for her,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Alter ego<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recalling a conversation he had with Duterte on Saturday, Panelo said the President would allow Robredo to take charge since she is now considered one of his alter egos.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Duterte said Robredo\u2019s drug czar designation is considered a Cabinet post.<\/p>\n

Aside from scrapping Oplan Tokhang, Panelo said the President would allow Robredo to implement other changes in the anti-illegal drug operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi niya, \u2018Ibibigay ko sa kaniya, bahala na siya kung anong gusto niya. Basta siya ang<\/em>\u00a0(He said \u2018I\u2019ll give it to her, it\u2019s up to her what she wants to do. She\u2019s) on top of the situation there,\u2019\u201d Panelo said, quoting Duterte.<\/p>\n

Panelo also said the President would also allow Robredo to seek help from the international communities including the United States or United Nations to review the drug war.<\/p>\n

Robredo reportedly met with representatives from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she feels\u00a0na makakatulong iyong Amerika sa<\/em>\u00a0drug war —\u00a0eh dati namang tumutulong ang mga Amerikano sa atin<\/em>\u00a0(that America can help the drug war –America has long been helping us) sharing intelligence is one of them,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiguro pabayaan muna natin si<\/em>\u00a0(Perhaps let\u2019s leave) VP Leni in her work,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Asked if Robredo could submit documents on the drug war to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Panelo said: \u201cWe will defer to the VP\u00a0kung anong diskarte niya. Hayaan muna natin<\/em>\u00a0(what her approach will be. Let\u2019s let her do her job).\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, said should the ICC insist on forcing its jurisdiction over the Philippines to investigate the drug war, it would mean that they are in violation of their own rules.<\/p>\n

He, meanwhile, shrugged off the offer made by former deputy director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s Asia division Phelim Kine to help Robredo improve the anti-drug campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi naman siya taga-rito eh<\/em>\u00a0(He\u2019s not even from here). But you know, all these things have to be deferred to VP Leni as the anti-drug czar, and the ICAD of which she chairs,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Budget increase<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Palace official said Robredo could only completely thresh out the scope of her powers as drug czar once she holds a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p>\n

He said the President is always open to consultation with every member of the Cabinet, including Robredo.<\/p>\n

Duterte has already expressed his desire to invite the Vice President to Malaca\u00f1ang in a meeting, Panelo said.<\/p>\n

The President could also replace Robredo if he is not satisfied with her performance as drug czar.<\/p>\n

“Lahat naman \u2018yan puwede, Presidente siya eh<\/em>\u00a0(Anything is possible since he’s the President). Everybody holds office at the pleasure of the President, all of us know that,” Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo said Duterte is also open to Robredo\u2019s suggestion to increase the government’s 2020 budget for the Philippine Anti-Illegal Drug Strategy (PADS) particularly on areas of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung kailangan iyan, bakit naman hindi<\/em>\u00a0(If she needs it, why not),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Robredo earlier said the PHP15-million funding for ICAD is “not enough” to establish more drug rehabilitation centers and drug prevention education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Newly-appointed drug czar, Vice President Leni Robredo can scrap Oplan Tokhang if she can suggest more effective ways to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":191167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237154,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237153\/revisions\/237154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}