{"id":238308,"date":"2019-11-25T02:10:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T07:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=238308"},"modified":"2019-11-25T02:10:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T07:10:30","slug":"robredo-wasted-opportunity-to-improve-drug-war-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/25\/robredo-wasted-opportunity-to-improve-drug-war-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Robredo \u2018wasted\u2019 opportunity to improve drug war: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed that President Rodrigo Duterte fired Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) due to several reasons including the latter\u2019s \u201cdare\u201d to Duterte to just tell her if he wants her out. (File Photo:<\/a> Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo \u201cwasted the opportunity\u201d to work with the Duterte administration in improving the crackdown on illegal drugs, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed that President Rodrigo Duterte fired Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) due to several reasons including the latter\u2019s \u201cdare\u201d to Duterte to just tell her if he wants her out.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe blew it,\u201d Panelo said in a press conference in Busan, South Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s VP Leni herself asking the President to fire her. Don\u2019t forget that. If you were the appointing power, how would you receive that dare and taunt?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also said Duterte\u2019s decision to fire Robredo came after Liberal Party President and Senator Francis Pangilinan asked Duterte to fire the Vice President as drug czar if he did not completely trust her.<\/p>\n

However, he said it was Robredo\u2019s missteps such as meeting with foreign entities, seeking classified information, and failing to present new solutions to stop the illegal drug trade were the main reasons that led to her sacking.<\/p>\n

Panelo explained that the drug czar post was an offer to make the campaign against illegal drugs better — a chance where both the administration and the political opposition could have worked together.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, she wasted such opportunity and used the same as a platform to attack the methods undertaken by this Administration,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Asked to described how Duterte mentioned his plan to fire Robredo, Panelo said:\u00a0\u201cBasta sinabi ni Presidente<\/em>\u00a0(The President just said), \u2018I\u2019m firing her.\u2019 Sabi ko (I asked) \u2018When?\u2019\u00a0Sabi niya<\/em>\u00a0(He said) \u2018Now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On November 20, Robredo advised the President to tell her directly if he wanted her out of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

“He (Duterte) should just tell me directly. If he does not want me here in the first place, why did he appoint me?” Robredo said.<\/p>\n

Robredo was appointed by Duterte as ICAD co-chair on October 31, following her claims that the current administration\u2019s anti-illegal drug campaign is a “failure”.<\/p>\n

She was supposed to help her ICAD co-chair, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino, in eliminating the country’s drug menace until June 30, 2022.<\/p>\n

Duterte initially wanted Robredo to hold a Cabinet rank as ICAD co-chair, but changed his mind for fear that the Vice President might reveal classified information about the government\u2019s anti-narcotics campaign.<\/p>\n

International attention<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite giving having ample authority and powers to put an end to the drug menace in the country, Panelo said Robredo resorted to baiting \u201cinternational attention\u201d from persons or entities that have already prejudged the anti-illegal drug campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf VP Robredo is really serious in addressing the cause of the drug problem, she should have gone down to the grassroots — talking to the victims, to their families, and to the communities,\u201d Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, she opted to have audience with the United Nations and the United States embassy officials who remain out-of-touch from the realities of the local drug problem on the ground,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Panelo said Robredo\u2019s request for access to confidential information on the drug war could not be given the benefit of the doubt as being \u201cfree from malice or manipulation\u201d due to her tendency to politicize the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, what the Vice President has done is to embarrass our country, apart from detrimentally undermining the government\u2019s efforts to preserve the general welfare,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Failed to reach out<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following Robredo\u2019s concern that her function as ICAD co-chair was not properly indicated in the Executive Order, Panelo said she should have reached out to the President to seek clarification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe functions of the ICAD, as performed by its four clusters, are already spelled out in Executive Order No. 15. So is the role of its head of ensuring that the objectives of the ICAD are accomplished,\u201d Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf VP Robredo wanted clarification in the scope and limits of her new task, she could have sought audience with the President, which she failed to do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Instead of speaking to the appointing authority, Panelo said Robredo chose to speak right in front of the cameras asking the President on her supposed mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you need more powers, seek audience with the President. Don\u2019t let the President invite you. It should be you. See the President and ask him if you have some more powers in mind to be added to yours,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Before Duterte bared that he did not completely trust Robredo, Panelo said that the Chief Executive had planned to invite Robredo to Malaca\u00f1ang to discuss the official functions as drug czar.<\/p>\n

Too late<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo said that more than two weeks have passed since Robredo accepted her designation as ICAD-chairperson, but yet to present any new program or project to improve the anti-illegal drug campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President has been more than patient enough, giving the Vice President adequate opportunity to discuss possible courses of action with him,\u201d Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she has not presented any new program that she envisioned to implement. In a campaign where people\u2019s lives are at risk, a day is an eternity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said the government could not just \u201csit idly hoping for a flash of brilliance from the Vice President\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy suggestion from the very start is since you have criticized the administration\u2019s drive against illegal drugs as a failure or ineffective then you must have some ideas in mind. But you never presented that–we have not heard of that either privately or publicly,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

If Robredo\u2019s goal was to prevent more deaths linked to the drug war, did she succeed?<\/p>\n

Panelo said that since she was appointed drug czar on October 31, nothing has changed and there were no reports of deaths prevented with Robredo at the helm of the ICAD.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same.\u00a0Walang pagbabago<\/em>\u00a0(Nothing changed),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo said there would be no need to release an executive order or letter formally terminating Robredo\u2019s appointment as drug czar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you fire somebody, you don\u2019t need an executive order. You just fire. Everyone (serves) at the pleasure of the President,\u201d Panelo said in a press briefing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo \u201cwasted the opportunity\u201d to work with the Duterte administration in improving the crackdown …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":186205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238308","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\/238308","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238310,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238308\/revisions\/238310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}