De Lima says ‘drug czar’ offer meant to shame Robredo

MANILA – Sen. Leila de Lima has cautioned Vice President Leni Robredo from accepting the challenge of President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the country’s illegal drug problem in six months.


The opposition senator said in a statement that Duterte’s offer to Robredo to lead the government’s narcotics crackdown is just a “silly trap” that aims at shaming the Vice President (VP).


“The real reason why Duterte is even floating this idea of offering VP Robredo that post is because he wants to shame her and all other critics of his flawed drug war,” De Lima said.

 She added that Duterte wants to create the narrative of putting all the blame of his failures to someone else, instead of admitting that he lied about winning the drug war, despite killing thousands of people. 


Robredo was offered by Duterte to be the administration’s “drug czar” for six months after the Vice President repeatedly branded the administration’s anti-drug campaign as a “failure.”


Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that Robredo would be given a cabinet secretary portfolio and would be in charge of all agencies involved in the implementation of anti-illegal drug laws under her command, should she take Duterte’s offer.


De Lima, however, said that the ploy of Duterte and Panelo was to put Robredo in a bad light as the two knew the drug czar post wouldn’t be effective “winning his drug war brand.”


“If it can, why didn’t he create such a post on his first days as President? Why create one now for VP Robredo?” De Lima said. “I compare it with the silly traps that Tom lays down for Jerry as he hides around the corner, hoping that Jerry would be dumb enough to jump on such an obvious ploy that any 3-year-old can figure out.”/PN

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