The head of the agency at the forefront of the administration’s war on drugs believes Vice President Leni Robredo will not succeed should she take the helm of the anti-narcotics campaign.
In an interview on CNN Philippines’ The Source on Monday, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino said Robredo lacks enough experience to curb the perennial issue of illegal drugs in the country.
READ: Palace to Robredo: Shut up if you can’t take on Duterte dare to be drug czar
“Palagay ko she will fail,” Aquino said. [Translation: I think she will fail.]
“I’ve been in the Philippine National Police for 36 years. I’ve been in PDEA for more than three years. It is only now that I became the director general of PDEA that I have known what is the real problem of illegal drugs. Sa 36 years na serbisyo ko sa pulis, kahit siguro kalahati hindi ko alam. Dito ko lang lahat nalaman (Throughout my 36 years of service in the PNP, I didn't know even just half of the drug problem. I only knew about it when I sat as the head of PDEA).”
READ: SWS survey: Duterte's Drug War gets 'Excellent' rating from Pinoys
“The vice president doesn’t have that. Wala syang kaalaman sa illegal na droga (She doesn't have knowledge about illegal drugs).”
President Rodrigo Duterte, on the other hand, is equipped with enough experience to orchestrate the campaign, Aquino said.
Duterte last week offered Robredo the power to oversee the war on drugs for six months, after the Vice President said the campaign should be abandoned and “has been a failure and a dent on the country’s international image.”
The President, then, renewed his offer to Robredo, saying he would give the Vice President a Cabinet post should she accept it.
READ: Robredo insulted over alleged ‘Text Message-Invite’ for Drug Czar Position
Robredo refused to respond to the President's offer which she said may have been made out of "annoyance." She also questioned the offer, suggesting that it could be the administration's way of conceding that the anti-illegal drug campaign has been a failure.
“When I was assigned in Davao for 22 years, nagsimula na si Presidente. Piskal pa lang sya, puro drugs ang kaso nya. He cleaned Davao City during that time and makikita mo ang kanyang experience on how to clean and make drug cleared Davao,” the director general said.
[Translation: The President was already starting his campaign against illegal drugs when I was assigned in Davao 22 years ago. He was handling many drugs-related cases when he was a fical. He cleaned Davao City during that time and you could really see his experience on how to clean and make Davao City drug-free.]
READ: Hu u? Robredo’s camp snubs Palace's offering Drug Czar post
Aquino, however, assured that “definitely PDEA will give 101 percent support” to Robredo should she accept the President’s offer.
“Kung ano man ang binibigay namin na support kay Presidente ganoon din [ang ibibigya namin sa kaniya],” he said. “Makikipag-ugnayan kami lagi at gagawin namin ang lahat ng makakaya namin para mabigyan ng 101 percent support ang ating vice president.”
[Translation: We will give her the same support that we give to the President. We will always coordinate with her so we can give him 101 percent support.]
READ: Leni Robredo as Drug Czar? Duterte: Mas Marunong Ka Man Sa Akin
Aquino said he just hopes that the programs Robredo will implement will be aligned with the current initiatives of PDEA.
Government data shows more than 6,000 people have been killed in anti-illegal drug operations since Duterte took office in July 2016. Human rights advocates have called it a war on the poor, saying authorities have not caught big-time drug lords.
READ: VP Robredo: ‘Kung ‘di fail, bakit ipapasa sa’kin ang drug war?’
Local and international human rights groups say thousands more have died in extrajudicial killings as a result of the President's public pronouncements, a claim Malacañang has repeatedly denied. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Criminal Court have taken notice of the country's human rights situation.
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This article first appeared on CNN Philippines.
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