Malacañang has cast doubt on the looming report of Vice President Leni Robredo about the anti-drug campaign, saying her information might be fabricated.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo suspected that the Robredo camp might be inventing a “ghost” to discredit the administration’s war on drugs.
He argued that Robredo should have made public any irregularity about the drug war as soon as she discovered it while serving as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs.
“If it is true that she discovered any irregularities or any unlawful act or scheme, then it was her duty, it is her duty at the time that she discovered that irregularity to reveal that to the public, and prosecute the people behind it because she is a public official. Why didn’t she do that?” Panelo said.
“Why is she taking so long? Dahil ba kasi may nagpi-prepare nang iba para sa kanya?” he asked. “Bakit hindi niya inilabas noon pa, dahil ba mayroon silang ginagawang multong nililikha nila?” he added.
Asked if they suspect Robredo’s report is fabricated, Panelo: “Presumably.”
He said if an official discovers any irregularity, the person must not keep his “mouth shut” and instead report the incident to President Duterte. “Eh ilang araw na iyon tapos next week pa yata, ano ba iyan?” he said.
The President has fired Robredo less than three weeks after designating her to lead the government’s war on drugs for alleged incompetence. Robredo supposedly committed missteps, including failure to present any strategy to combat the country’s drug problem, consulting foreigners critical of the drug, and seeking access to classified documents.
Following her removal from the ICAD, Robredo asked Duterte what he feared she would find out as head of the war on drugs.
She said they may have taken away her position but not her determination to stop the killings, hold accountable those involved, and win the fight against illegal drugs. She also plans to reveal her findings from her brief stint as co-chair of the committee supervising the government’s anti-drug campaign.
Panelo, however, dismissed as nonsense Robredo’s allegation that the administration was afraid she would discover something irregular about the drug war. He maintained that the government is not hiding anything about the anti-drug campaign.
“Of course, kaya nga siya in-appoint precisely para makita niya iyong loob, kaya nga may access siya sa lahat eh,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)
