Palace: VP wasted chance to aid anti-illegal drugs war

Vice President Leni Robredo could have done more for the country, Malacañang laments.

Vice President Leni Robredo was given ample authority and power to direct all responsible government agencies to put an end to the drug menace in the country.

But as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Robredo resorted to calling international attention on the matter, particularly from persons or entities that know little or nothing at all about the country’s situation.

Thus the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to terminate her tenure at ICAD.

“The President’s designation of VP Robredo was not like any offer to perform a certain task. It was an offer to make the campaign against illegal drugs better,” said Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo in a statement.

“Unfortunately, she wasted such opportunity and used the same as a platform to attack the methods undertaken by this administration.”

The termination, Panelo said, also answered the suggestion of Liberal Party President, Senator Francis Pangilinan, to just fire the Vice President from her post.

It was also the Palace’s response to Robredo’s dare for the President to just tell her that he wants her out.

Panelo said Robredo was given the chance “where both this Administration and the political opposition could have unified in fighting the social ill that has destroyed the lives of many and imperilled thousands others, in addition to creating a multitude of dysfunctional families and threatening the present and the next generation to useless existence.”

The functions of the ICAD, as performed by its four clusters, are spelled out in Executive Order No. 15, including the role of its head to ensure that the objectives of the agency are accomplished.

“If 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. As always, she talked — not with her appointing authority — but right in front of the cameras asking the President on her supposed mandate,” Panelo stated.

If Robredo was serious in addressing the cause of the drug problem, Panelo said she should have gone down to the grassroots by talking to victims, their families and to people in affected communities.

“Instead, 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,” lamented Panelo.

Panelo said it was unfortunate that what the Vice President has done is “to embarrass our country, apart from detrimentally undermining the government’s efforts to preserve the general welfare.”

The Palace noted that more than two weeks passed since the Vice President accepted her designation as ICAD co-chair but she failed to present a new program.

“In a campaign where people’s lives are at risk, a day is an eternity. The government can not twiddle its thumb and sit idly hoping for a flash of brilliance from the Vice President,” said Panelo.