Du30 boots Leni

She talked to foreigners, referring to the Vice President’s meetings with officials of the United Nations and the United States.

President Rodrigo Duterte has terminated Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) yesterday after issuing several warnings against using the delegated position to push her political agenda.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed Mr. Duterte’s decision to fire Robredo minutes after presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo was quoted as saying that the directive was prompted by her inability to infuse a fresh perspective on the government’s war on illegal drugs.

According to Panelo, Robredo has been on the job for three weeks already but her failure to provide new programs for ICAD did her in.

Panelo cited reasons for Mr. Duterte to lose his trust on the anti-drugs czarina which are that she talked to foreigners, referring to the Vice President’s meetings with officials of the United Nations and the United States; the scope of authority that Robredo is asking for is already outlined in the Executive Order that created ICAD and that if Robredo wanted more powers she should have consulted the President.

Likewise, Panelo said Senator Francis Pangilinan, who is a top official of the Liberal Party that Robredo heads, asked the President to fire her so the President obliged him. He noted that Robredo also consistently dared the president to dismiss her.

Panelo earlier said it may not be civil nor ethical for Robredo to taunt or dare President Duterte in demanding him 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.

He made the remark after Robredo in a press briefing in Quezon City said she won’t hesitate to resign from her post as co-chair of the ICAD if the President himself will ask her to leave supposedly for losing his trust.

Mr. Duterte’s aide said just like accepting a position, resigning from it solely depends upon the person, and not with the appointing power.

Panelo cited “red flags” which did not inspire the President’s confidence in her.

“Worse, she has been listening to the advice on how to run her new post by some of her colleagues in the opposition who 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,” Panelo said.

The President earlier offered an apology to Robredo but he insisted that she can’t be trusted.

Mr. Duterte said he is apologizing for an earlier statement he made that she had invited United Nations (UN) probers to advise her on the anti-narcotics campaign after she accepted the designation as co-chairman of the ICAD.

“And I am sorry because I said you only realize that it is false news when the news comes out. And you hear it and you talk about it, you react to it, that is the problem,” Duterte told a news broadcast.

During an interview at the dedication of his great-grandson Rodrigo Duterte III held at his native Davao City, Mr. Duterte said he learned that his allegation was false upon watching the news.

Robredo denied that she issued an invitation for the holding of an investigation on the campaign on illegal drugs.

The President in a previous press conference threatened to slap former Human Rights Watch official Phelim Kine in front of Robredo if she brings him over to the country.

“That must have been the false news. If I believed in false news, it is still news. You only learn it is false after it has come up,” Mr. Duterte said.

“It’s news, so if she says that’s false news, then I believe her. And I am sorry because I said you only realize that it is false when the news comes out. And you hear it and you talk about it, you react to it, that is the problem,” he added.

The Chief Executive, however, indicated that conferring the Vice President his trust would be a separate matter since it cannot be nurtured between them.

“There might be things that we might discuss in the Cabinet that is only good for people of the same persuasion, perhaps it will travel back here, either by design or negligence,” Mr. Duterte said.

“I will be frank, Leni, we are not party mates. You know public office is a very honorable thing, but politics everywhere is always dirty,” he noted.

“Your being the Vice President, it’s noble and I’m happy that you are there because I knew your husband but not you. We were together, remember? During the time of the election of President Aquino? (Former Interior Secretary Jesse) Robredo was a Cabinet member and also — I think (Leni) was manager of the campaign,” the President said.

“So, we know we know each other but politics, what you say, even if it is said by design or negligence, somebody is going to fish it from your mouth and use it during election time,” he added.

Robredo had insisted in her weekly radio program that she will not quit as ICAD co-chairman despite Mr. Duterte’s lack of trust.

Maintaining that there are a lot of activities to do to help the administration resolve the country’s drug problem, Robredo said Duterte should explicitly order her to leave her concurrent post.

“He was the one who appointed me. He also has the power to remove me (from my post). If he remove me, then I can’t do anything about that, but I will not resign especially now that I saw that there are a lot of things that we should do and now that I think I can help in accomplishing those,” Robredo stated.

“That’s why as long as I am not being removed from my post, I will do my work.”

The appointed anti-drugs czarina previously asked Duterte to tell her directly to leave the post if that is the Chief Executive’s will.

This came after Duterte, in an unscheduled press conference at Malacañang last Tuesday, said he could not fully trust Robredo as the Vice President could expose classified information on the administration’s drug war.

To recall, Robredo had asked for a copy of the list of high-value targets from the office of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director-general Aaron Aquino. However, the latter initially refused to provide her a copy of the list.

The Vice President reiterated that data and information on drugs will be vital for the ICAD to know the policies and activities that the committee will undertake.

“I think in the next few weeks, we can already see the shape (of our actions) because right now, we’re like looking at the puzzle because not all data are available,” she said.

“So, instead of studying it in one sitting, I should really go to places. I need to research, talk to a lot of people. If the data are available, this could have been easier,” Robredo added.

She also hailed Interior Secretary Eduardo Año for his cooperation with the ICAD and noted some “resistance” from law enforcers who were part of the committee.