Vice President Leonor “Leni” Robredo has given her primary recommendations in relation to the state’s anti-illegal-drug program, derived from her 19-day stint as chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD). First, she suggested that the jurisdiction on the ICAD be transferred from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to Dangerous Drugs Board. In addition, President Rodrigo Duterte should magnify his participation here. Second, the veep recommended that authorities dig into the thwarting of entry of the illicit substances to the Philippines. More importantly, they should dilate their pursuance of high-value targets. Last, the Vice President recommended that the lack of information on the subject campaign be addressed. Alongside this, she asked the Chief Executive to certify as urgent the bills that seek the strengthening of anti-illegal-drug bodies. “Lahat ng aking obserbasyon at rekomendasyon ay para sa mas maayos at mapayapang buhay para sa ating mga kababayan. Tatlo’t kalahating taon na ang nakalipas. Libu-libo na ang namatay, naulila, at nasira ang buhay dahil sa kalat na implementasyon ng kampanya laban sa ilegal na droga. Kahit na nasa huling bahagi na tayo ng administrasyong Duterte, marami pang kailangang gawin, at marami pa tayong magagawa” (All my observation and recommendation are towards the better and more peaceful living for our compatriots. Three and a half years have passed. There are thousands who died, orphaned, and whose lives got destroyed because of the scattered implementation of the anti-illegal-drug campaign. Although we are already in the latter stretch of the Duterte administration, there are still many things that need to be carried out, and we can still accomplish many things), averred Vice President Robredo.
The Malacañan defended the anti-illegal-drug program, saying that the same, indeed, has numerous feats. The palace, further, stated the veep does not listen to the President. She focuses on the negative things rather than noticing how the project helped out towards the country’s order. Moreover, the palace said that the computation in her report was amiss. Finally, the Malacañan mentioned that the Vice President did not say anything new that is not yet acted upon by government offices. “E kung failure, ‘di sana ‘yong problema nating sa droga, inabot na siguro ng lahat ng pamilya. The fact remains that we have dismantled so many drug factories, illegal drug factories. The fact remains that we have also caused the surrender of thousands of drug addicts and pushers. The fact remains that due to many police operations, there have been casualties by reason of violent reaction to entrapment operations and arrest of these people involved in drugs. And also, even high-valued target drug suspects have been neutralized” (If that were a failure, our problems on drugs must have reached all families. The fact remains that we have dismantled so many drug factories, illegal drug factories. The fact remains that we have also caused the surrender of thousands of drug addicts and pushers. The fact remains that due to many police operations, there have been casualties by reason of violent reaction to entrapment operations and arrest of these people involved in drugs. And also, even high-valued target drug suspects have been neutralized), justified Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
The President is expected to give a statement on the ceremonial signing of the 2020 national budget in the afternoon of the day. The media industry awaits if he will react on Vice President Robredo’s recommendations.
