MANILA – Vice President Leni Robredo’s new position as the co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Council on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) is not a Cabinet level, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo clarified.
Panelo made the remark after her ICAD co-chair, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino, balked at giving her a copy of the list of “high-value” targets in the campaign against illegal drugs.
“The post she was appointed to is not a Cabinet level. The discretion to appoint her as a member of the Cabinet, in addition to her appointment as the anti-illegal drug czar lies with the President,” Panelo said.
Panelo, however, said in an interview with the CNN Philippines that the Vice President would only be invited to Cabinet meetings as needed.
“Sabi ni Presidente, imbitahan (siya) basta tungkol sa kanyang drug operations. Pero kung hindi naman,
hindi naman kailangan. Sabi ko, ang swerte niya,” he added.
Robredo’s ICAD appointment came after her remarks that the administration’s drug war as “obviously not working.”
After accepting Duterte’s offer, the Vice President has vowed to change the direction of the campaign by implementing a health-based approach and ending extrajudicial killings related to the drive./PN
