Rody on Leni: ‘I cannot trust her’

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte calls a press conference Tuesday night on why he could not appoint Vice President to be a member of his cabinet. AFP

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night said he did not designate Vice President Leni Robredo as a member of his cabinet because he could not trust her.

The President pointed at the statements made by Robredo that “doesn’t inspire (confidence)” after he appointed her as a co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Council on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

“I never said I was firing her. I said I would not appoint her as a cabinet member,” he said, explaining that cabinet members have access to classified matters.

“If she’s a cabinet member and she looks into the records that are classified matters – China, whatever. If she would ask for them, being a cabinet member, she would have access to everything,” Duterte said.

The President said his confidence on Robredo keeping partisan politics out of her new post in the anti-drugs campaign of the government was diminished by her statements.

The Chief Executive, however, said he was willing to “give more teeth to her power as long as there is security clearance from the military and the police.”

Speaking in a mix of Filipino and English, Duterte said, “My problem with Robredo (is that) she’s already saying a lot. If that is the way her mouth behaves, there can be no position for her.”

Mr. Duterte bluntly said he could not trust Robredo to be with his cabinet during meetings.

“The problem is this. I cannot trust her not only because she is with the opposition. I do not trust her because I do not know her,” he said.

“The way she behaved right after I appointed her does not inspire — it’s not inspiring,” Mr. Duterte added in the late night press conference.

The President noted that one of the biggest drug-manufacturing operations has been in the bailiwick of the Robredos – Bicol.

On Tuesday, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino, as well as the Philippine National Police, revealed that Robredo sought from them a list of the high-value targets in the campaign against drugs.

PDEA chief Aaron Aquino responded by saying the agency would brief Robredo in a closed-door meeting, with the PNP saying it would take the same stance.

Apparently reacting to Robredo seeking information from PDEA and the PNP, Mr. Duterte said Robredo would be given information “on a need-to-know basis.”

Robredo had asked why was she appointed to co-chair ICAD if she does not have the trust of her fellow officials. Still, she said she is keeping the post.

“If they don’t trust me, why did they designate me. When they designated me, among the things I needed to do was to ensure that those included in the list of high-value targets are caught,” she said in English and Filipino.

“If they would deprive me of the information, that’s up to them. As for me, I accepted this (post) wholeheartedly and I will do all in my ability.”