In a moment of pique, President Duterte has challenged his constant critic, Vice President Leni Robredo, to do better than he is winning the war on illegal drugs.
This he did officially by appointing Robredo to co-chair the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
As such, Robredo would coordinate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, the Dangerous Drugs Board, and other drug-related agencies to prosecute the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Although she would share leadership of ICAD with the chief of PDEA, the position, the Palace says, entails a Cabinet rank—a status she has not had since December 2016, when she resigned after being told not to bother attending Cabinet meetings.
Although the Palace insists the offer is a “serious” one, the President’s shadow—now a senator by name—betrays its real intent.
Upon the announcement of the offer, the senator urged Robredo to take the job so she could see how difficult it was.
“You have been talking everywhere about this government’s failure on (sic) its drug campaign,” the senator said, clearly reflecting the President’s irritation at Robredo’s recent remarks to the international news agency Reuters in which she said the drug war as it was being prosecuted was not working. Now, the senator said, she should “kill all the drug lords”—or face his questions if she failed to do so by the end of her term.
“Try it, please try it so that you will know how the President works and how far-reaching is the problem of illegal drugs until your term ends on June 30, 2022. Let’s see if you will be able to sleep,” the senator said in Filipino.
Inauspiciously, too, the PDEA chief has made clear he believes the vice president will fail, if she becomes the drug czar.
Against these odds, the vice president on Wednesday accepted the appointment, a move welcomed by the Palace.
We can only hope that this will be a positive step towards reconciliation that allows both the administration and the opposition to work together towards the common goal of eradicating the menace of illegal drugs. Only time will tell.