Here is why VP Leni Robredo is NOT Drug Czar Quality

Vice President Leni Robredo will fail if she takes on the offer to be the country’s anti-illegal drugs czarina.

Thus, said Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Aaron Aquino citing the Vice President’s lack of experience in law enforcement.

READ: Vice President Leni Robredo Officially Named as Drug Czar

President Rodrigo Duterte has offered to bestow Robredo the position as drug czarina and allow her to lead the country’s fight against illegal drugs unimpeded following her call for the administration to stop the campaign which she claimed was a failure.

The President even doubled down the offer as instead of just six months, he offered Robredo to take charge of the campaign until their terms end in three years.


Mr. Duterte also dangled a Cabinet post for Robredo to have the authority in performing the task of being in charge of the anti-narcotics campaign.

However, despite her very vocal criticism against the administration’s tack on addressing menace, Robredo remained mum over the offer.

“I think she will fail,” Aquino declared during a television interview.

READ: PDEA Chief: Robredo will fail as Drug Czar

Aquino, who spent 36 years as a police officer combatting crimes including illegal drugs, admitted that his more than three decades as a law enforcer did not even allow him to have a full understanding of the illegal drug menace.

She doesn’t have mettle

“The Vice President doesn’t have that. She does not know anything about illegal drugs,” said the PDEA chief, a retired police general.

Aquino, who served as a police officer in Davao City. pointed out that the President started waging war against illegal drugs as early as his stint as a prosecutor decades ago in Davao.

READ: PDEA Chief: Robredo will fail as Drug Czar

As a mayor, Aquino said that Mr. Duterte strived very hard to keep Davao City free from the evils of illegal drugs.


“When I was assigned in Davao 22 years ago, he was handling many drug-related cases as a fiscal. Mr. Duterte cleaned Davao City during that time and you could really see his experience on how to clean and make Davao City free from drugs,” he said.

Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., nonetheless, shared a different view.

READ: Gatchalian urged Robredo: Accept ‘Drug Czar Challenge’

In a social media post, Locsin said the offer “was made by the President not the PDEA chief.”


“Last thing you want is experience in the drug trade as the ‘ninja cops’ showed. What you need is resolution, courage, incorruptibility as exemplified by President Duterte and an iron resolve to exterminate the drug trade,” according to him.

Robredo support assured

Aquino, however, stressed that PDEA will throw its “101 percent support” to the Vice President if she accepts the offer to lead the war on drugs.

READ: De Lima believes ‘Drug Czar’ offer to Robredo a ‘Trap’

Upon his assumption in 2016, Mr. Duterte launched an all-out war against illegal drugs that resulted in about 6,000 drug personalities killed during actual law enforcement operations.


Government critics, both local and international, however, claimed that more than 20,000 have been killed in the bloody campaign against illegal drugs during the past three years.

They even filed a formal complaint against Mr. Duterte before the International Criminal Court based on their claimed data.

READ: SWS survey: Duterte's Drug War gets 'Excellent' rating from Pinoys

Relatedly, an estimated P3.4 million worth of suspected “shabu” was seized from two drug suspects in a buy-bust operation in front of a fast-food stall in Barangay Divisoria, Zamboanga City on Sunday.


Suspects Alner Andao and Aljimar Jimla were arrested in the operation launched at around 1:20 p.m. by joint units of the PDEA, Drug Enforcement Team of the Zamboanga City Police Station 5, and the 74th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.gg

The suspects were allegedly caught selling half a kilogram of suspected “shabu” to an undercover agent and will face drug charges, according to a report from the Zamboanga City Police.

Being woman as alibi

In a radio show on Sunday, Robredo again equated the offer for her to lead the anti-illegal drugs campaign as part of efforts to put her down.

READ: Palace: Robredo as Drug Czar a 'Ladder to the Presidency'


She said that she is one of the many targeted by attacks from government because she is a woman — making her a vulnerable target.

“It is still a reality that women in politics are still easy targets. Especially now that there’s social media. Especially now that there is fake news. My being a woman and my being a widow has paved the way for a lot of malicious and undeserved criticism on my person. And it’s not the same for men,” she said in her weekly radio show on Sunday.

READ: Here is why VP Leni Robredo is NOT Drug Czar Quality

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This article first appeared on Daily Tribune. This article was written by Mario J. Mallari of the Daily Tribune.