The much anticipated Drug Report of Vice President Leni Robredo should be out by early next week according to her. The FIRED Drug Czar came out firing and threatened the Duterte Administration that she would continue fighting. The previously scheduled Southeast Games, however, made her postpone coming out with her findings and recommendations. With the Games over by this week, she would hold a press conference next week. Intervening events should dampen the force of the Leni expose (in case there are a few blockbusters there). First, there was the Liberal Party attack on the expense of the Games ceremonial cauldron (mainly by Leni party mate Senator Drilon) then mainstream mass media (generally supportive of the political opposition or, conversely, perceived to be against the Duterte Administration) were caught with their pants down in amateurish FAKE NEWS. Although Leni had no participation in the crude attacks and, in fact, she lauded the SEA Games, in a highly divided nation, anything against the Administration will affect President Duterte while fumbles committed by the opposition and mass media will have a negative effect on the Vice President. Second, the President ranted against the water concessionaires Manila Water (owned by the Ayalas and close to VP Leni) and Maynilad (owned by Manny Pangilinan). The pubic anger against corporate greed hit the Liberal Party as well since the Ayalas enjoyed close ties with the previous Liberal Party Noynoy Aquino Administration.
The Vice President has also commented that nothing “explosive” would be forthcoming so all we can expect are motherhood statements. Be that as it may, the Filipino people would be waiting for what she has to say. Barring any real “fireworks”, we can expect little new information at a time when naming names would be the only way to propel her sagging popularity ratings up. Coming from the disastrous 2019 senatorial campaign where the Liberal Party received a sound thrashing (ZERO, nada, zilch), the opposition could be headed for another electoral debacle in the presidential and senatorial elections of 2022.
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Robredo to divulge drug war findings next week
“Yung ulat hinihintay lang natin matapos ‘yong SEA Games, matatapos siya on Thursday, pero nasa Basilan at Marawi kasi ako so probably sa Monday gagawin dahil wala ako the rest of the week,” Robredo said.
“Most probably Monday,” she added.
Robredo’s statements came in view of anticipation from critics and supporters alike regarding the publication of her report, which was collated before she was fired as Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) co-chair last November 24.
The Vice President previously said that she would wait for the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to end before she would announce the findings in order not to shift attention from the sporting event.
Robredo was appointed ICAD co-chair by President Rodrigo Duterte last October 31, which she accepted on November 6. Her designation came after the President was frustrated with her interview with a foreign news outlet where she allegedly called a stop on the drug war campaign of the government.
During her stint at ICAD, Robredo pushed for the scrapping of Oplan Tokhang, the integration of community-based rehabilitation efforts, and the creation of a baseline data on the drug war.
However, her post also accompanied several obstacles, as she was initially prevented from seeing the list of high-value drug targets as it was deemed confidential and unnecessary for her to see.
But when her co-chair, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino tried to show her a copy of the confidential data, Robredo begged off pending clarification from Duterte on the scope and limitations of her role.
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Robredo to release drug war report next week
MANILA, Philippines — Nothing “explosive” but “recommendatory.”
This was how Vice President Leni Robredo described her upcoming report on the government’s drug war.
“For me, explosive is too cinematic. We can expect recommendation to make it (war on drugs) better,” Robredo said yesterday.
The Vice President said she would make public her report on Monday.
“We saw some gaps and our recommendations are intended to help in correcting these mistakes, in addressing the gaps,” she said.
Robredo maintained no sensitive information related to the anti-illegal drug campaign would be divulged in her report.
“We tried to be as comprehensive as possible, given the very limited time given to us. There were things that we don’t have personal knowledge of,” she said.
President Duterte appointed Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD) early November following her criticisms of his drug war.
Only 19 days in her post, the President fired Robredo after she met with representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the US embassy.
Duterte said he does not trust Robredo with classified information, calling her a “scatterbrain.”
Meanwhile, Robredo yesterday called for justice and support for orphans and family members who lost their loved ones to drug war killings as the nation marked International Human Rights Day.
She also called for the improvement of community-based rehabilitation for drug users.
Robredo made the call during the launch of the special edition of Istorya ng Pag-asa photo gallery, featuring the suffering and struggle of the orphaned families at the Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City.
Government data showed over 6,000 drug offenders have been killed in the anti-drug operations since Duterte assumed office in June 2016.
#Duterte #LeniRobredo #WarOnDrugs
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