MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte welcomed the acceptance of Vice President Leni Robredo of her new role as the co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said on Thursday that President Duterte wanted Robredo to personally see the realities of the administration’s anti-drug campaign.
“With the Vice President at the helm of the anti-narcotics campaign, President Duterte expects that the former would see the realities on the ground, particularly with respect to the government’s position against extrajudicial or state-sponsored killings, and understand that deaths occur due to the violent reactions on the part of agents of the illegal drug trade against the strict enforcement of the law,” Panelo said in a statement.
Duterte made true to his declaration of appointing Robredo as part of the administration’s anti-drugs committee following the latter’s comment that the war on drugs is obviously failing.
After days of dilly dallying, Robredo on Wednesday finally accepted the offer to lead the ICAD’s along with Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency chair Aaron Aquino.
Last month, Robredo had called on Duterte to allow the United Nations to investigate his war on drugs which she said was “obviously, not working,” prompting Malacanang’s challenge for her to lead the drug war.
She later clarified that she meant to urge administration leaders to “step back and assess” the narcotics crackdown.
Created through Executive Order 15 issued in March 2017, the ICAD was mandated to ensure the effective conduct of anti-illegal drug operations and arrest of high-value drug personalities down to the street-level peddles and users and cleanse the bureaucracy of unscrupulous personnel involved in illegal drug activities, among other functions./PN
