Robredo's camp to PDEA chief: Read VP's drug war report first
Published Jan 7, 2020 12:00 am
By Raymund Antonio
The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo fired back at Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino and told him to read first the full drug war report so he would know who is politicizing her short stint as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
Atty. Barry Gutierrez
(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) “The VP explicitly stated that her purpose was not to criticize or attack anyone, but to reveal the truth about the drug war. The numbers are there. The report is clearly based on empirical evidence,” vice presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez said. “If they disagree with it, they should prove their point through evidence as well. Otherwise, it is obvious who is really politicizing the issue,” Gutierrez, who is also Robredo’s legal adviser, added. Aquino had earlier claimed that Robredo’s recommendations on the report she presented on Monday was a “mere political attack” against President Duterte. In a report to the nation, Robredo claimed the government’s drug war was a “massive failure” after authorities only seized less than one percent of the drug supply in the country. The Vice President gave the anti-illegal drugs campaign a poor score of “1 out of 100” as she attributed the failure to the ICAD being chaired by PDEA instead of the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB). Robredo co-chaired the anti-drug body for 18 days in November last year alongside Aquino. Instead of dismissing the issue, Gutierrez said Aquino and other concerned officials should accept that the drug war was a failure after they were not able to reduce significantly the drug money and supply. “We hope that DG Aquino and other officials will face these hard truths squarely instead of attempting to brush them off or confuse the issue,” Gutierrez said. “This is the difficult, but necessary, step that must be taken if we are to really improve the current drug campaign,” he added. Gutierrez said Aquino did not dispute the figures on Robredo’ report but presented instead “completely unrelated statistics such as the number of arrests and the President's approval rating.” “The 45 billion worth of illegal drugs he claims have been seized, is, according to PNP figures, less than two weeks worth of total drug consumption, and only serves to validate the point made in the report,” Robredo’s spokesman said. “These do not address the basic point that only a miniscule fraction of total drug supply is being stopped by government efforts,” he noted.
Atty. Barry Gutierrez(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) “The VP explicitly stated that her purpose was not to criticize or attack anyone, but to reveal the truth about the drug war. The numbers are there. The report is clearly based on empirical evidence,” vice presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez said. “If they disagree with it, they should prove their point through evidence as well. Otherwise, it is obvious who is really politicizing the issue,” Gutierrez, who is also Robredo’s legal adviser, added. Aquino had earlier claimed that Robredo’s recommendations on the report she presented on Monday was a “mere political attack” against President Duterte. In a report to the nation, Robredo claimed the government’s drug war was a “massive failure” after authorities only seized less than one percent of the drug supply in the country. The Vice President gave the anti-illegal drugs campaign a poor score of “1 out of 100” as she attributed the failure to the ICAD being chaired by PDEA instead of the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB). Robredo co-chaired the anti-drug body for 18 days in November last year alongside Aquino. Instead of dismissing the issue, Gutierrez said Aquino and other concerned officials should accept that the drug war was a failure after they were not able to reduce significantly the drug money and supply. “We hope that DG Aquino and other officials will face these hard truths squarely instead of attempting to brush them off or confuse the issue,” Gutierrez said. “This is the difficult, but necessary, step that must be taken if we are to really improve the current drug campaign,” he added. Gutierrez said Aquino did not dispute the figures on Robredo’ report but presented instead “completely unrelated statistics such as the number of arrests and the President's approval rating.” “The 45 billion worth of illegal drugs he claims have been seized, is, according to PNP figures, less than two weeks worth of total drug consumption, and only serves to validate the point made in the report,” Robredo’s spokesman said. “These do not address the basic point that only a miniscule fraction of total drug supply is being stopped by government efforts,” he noted.