{"id":238124,"date":"2019-11-22T21:02:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T02:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=238124"},"modified":"2019-11-22T21:02:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T02:02:10","slug":"resigning-as-icad-co-chair-is-up-to-robredo-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/22\/resigning-as-icad-co-chair-is-up-to-robredo-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Resigning as ICAD co-chair is up to Robredo: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Robredo\u2019s statement came a day after the President admitted that he cannot fully trust Robredo because the Vice President might divulge confidential records concerning his administration\u2019s crackdown on illegal drugs. (File Photo<\/a>: VP Leni Robredo\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Vice President Leni Robredo can use her discretion to give up her concurrent post as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Malaca\u00f1ang said on Friday.<\/p>\n

In response to Robredo\u2019s pronouncement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President would only strip the Vice President of her role as anti-drug czar, in case she discloses \u201cclassified\u201d matters on the government\u2019s anti-narcotics crackdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like accepting a position, resigning from it solely depends upon the person, and not with the appointing power. If one is not comfortable with it, or cannot stand the heat in the kitchen, the honorable thing to do is to leave the post quietly,\u201d the Palace official said in a statement.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Robredo said she would heed the President\u2019s directives, including the possibility of her being booted out of ICAD.<\/p>\n

Robredo\u2019s statement came a day after the President admitted that he cannot fully trust Robredo because the Vice President might divulge confidential records concerning his administration\u2019s crackdown on illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

Panelo reiterated that Robredo would only be axed by Duterte as ICAD co-chair if the Vice President makes a move “that imperils the safety and general welfare of the Filipino people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelo said it could be considered \u201cuncivil\u201d or \u201cunethical\u201d for Robredo to challenge the President to demand her resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may not be civil nor ethical for VP Leni to taunt or dare the President in demanding the latter to tell her that he does not want her for the job she was appointed to or that he wants her to resign from her current post,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch taunting and daring only make it appear that PRRD (President Rodrigo R. Duterte) owes her for appointing her as anti-illegal drug czar,\u201d Panelo added.<\/p>\n

Duterte delegated Robredo to lead ICAD, along with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director-General Aaron Aquino until June 30, 2022, after the President was piqued by her previous remarks that drug war is \u201cobviously not working.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President appointed Robredo as ICAD co-chair through a memorandum signed on October 31.<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier opted to give Robredo a Cabinet rank, but later on changed his mind, as he acknowledged that Robredo, whom he called a \u201cscatterbrain\u201d with \u201ckneejerk\u201d impulses, is leading the opposition and seeking advice from foreign entities who are critical of the Philippines\u2019 drug war.<\/p>\n

Panelo said there Robredo was the only person to blame if Duterte loses his trust in her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she is smarting from the remarks of PRRD of not trusting her to have access to classified information, she has only herself to blame,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout first inquiring as to the scope of her authority, which she could have easily done by requesting an audience with the President, she instead went full steam in consulting or inviting foreign institutions and personalities, some of whom have already prejudged the war on drugs as a violation of human rights and crime against humanity,\u201d Panelo added.<\/p>\n

Robredo earlier said she would be meeting with the officials of the United States and the United Nations to get their insights to improve the Philippines\u2019 anti-narcotics campaign.<\/p>\n

Instead of showing respect to Duterte, Panelo said Robredo showed \u201cred flags\u201d that could not be ignored by the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, she demanded full access to confidential matters that involve state security. Those red flags did not inspire confidence on her person, which the Chief Executive could not just brush off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Robredo appears to be \u2018oblivious\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo said Robredo seemed to be \u201cdisplaying her lack of care about the work assigned to her,” adding that the Vice President refused to do her job alone as ICAD co-chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe certainly is much better off if she chooses to be her own person as when she accepted the position of anti-drug czar against the unanimous advice of opposition stalwarts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, however, she opted to heed the advice of those presently surrounding her whose political motivations are glaring, to which VP Leni seems to be oblivious of,\u201d Duterte\u2019s spokesman added.<\/p>\n

Panelo said Robredo did not even realize that she has been listening to the advice of her allies \u201cwho are eyeing the presidency in 2022 and who obviously want her to fail in her new job this early, to eliminate her from the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the question haunting her is: Will she or will she not? Quo Vadis (Where are you going) VP Leni?\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Vice President Leni Robredo can use her discretion to give up her concurrent post as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":238125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238124","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=238124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238126,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238124\/revisions\/238126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}