(Eagle News)–Vice President Leni Robredo “is always ready to help,” her camp said on Friday, Nov. 1.
Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesperson, said, however, that what she “will not stand for is being made a scapegoat for all the shortcomings of the ‘drug war’ for the past three and a half years.”
“This admin made the impossible promise to end crime and drugs in six months, and if they are now being called to account for their failure to deliver, they should not blame VP Leni for it,” he said.
According to Gutierrez, “as early as 2016, VP Leni engaged with DILG and other agencies to give suggestions on how to improve government efforts against illegal drugs.”
He said her “inputs,” however, “were not acted on, and the admin excluded her from further discussions soon after.”
“If the President is seeking help about the drug war, maybe they can use a better avenue, not through text or by showing off to the media,” Gutierrez said, pointing out that President Rodrigo’s Duterte’s tirades came during the holidays.
“Maybe he is just tired and ill,” he said.
Earlier, Duterte reiterated his offer for Robredo to be the country’s drug czar, saying he would give her the rank of Cabinet.
Duterte initially made the offer to relinquish his powers of law enforcement for six months to Robredo, after she said the drug war was a failure for supposedly failing to curb the number of drug users in the country.
Robredo appeared not so keen on Duterte’s offer, which she said was she did not believe to be true.
