Drug war better off without Leni

In a statement, PDEA director Aquino said that having VP Leni Robredo as his co-chairperson at the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) was "difficult" with the latter being the second-highest official in the land. (AFP)

The government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign is better off without Vice President Leni Robredo in the picture, according to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Aaron Aquino.

In a statement, Aquino said that having Robredo as his co-chairperson at the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) was “difficult” with the latter being the second-highest official in the land.

“Number one, it’s hard for me to dictate because she is the Vice President. I’m just na Undersecretary. Second, I cannot also dictate what she should or should not do,” Aquino stated in yesterday’s “Real Numbers” press briefing in Malacañang.

“So when she started meeting with the other foreign groups, I cannot stop her or what. It was on her own doing what she did,” he added.

The official also lamented how Robredo “failed to meet the other three clusters” of the ICAD when she “started to meet other international counterparts” like the United States and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Robredo was only able to sit down with the law enforcement cluster of the panel and was vocal in pushing for a more “humane” way of carrying out anti-narcotics operations to hopefully prevent deaths of drug suspects.

“Maybe that’s why she was misinformed,” Aquino said.

“Had she met the four ICAD clusters, she would have had a wider scope of knowledge about the drug situation in the Philippines. And maybe, after meeting the four clusters, she could have implemented a program or strategy to strengthen the ICAD,” he added.

Asked if he would be willing to have another co-chair in the ICAD, Aquino said that by law, the body is mandated to have just one head.

But should President Rodrigo Duterte appoint another co-chairperson, Aquino said he would rather have the Chief Executive name someone who is on “the same level” as he is.

“By law, the ICAD only has one chairman. So, I will be more comfortable, of course, if I’m only the chairman. But if there will be another chairman, I hope it’s someone on the same level as me,” stated the PDEA chief.