Clipped wings

By Cong Corrales

THE President has fired Vice President Ma. Leonor Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs only 18 days after appointing her, while his self-appointed deadline of three to six months of ridding the drug menace in the country has been due some three years ago.

Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo has been quoted as saying that Vice President Robredo has been fired for allegedly using the war on drugs for politicking.

Well, let us review what the vice president did in those 18 days. However, it is going to be a shortlist considering the number of days she co-chaired Icad.

The vice president demanded transparency and access to documents and intelligence reports. To this, Icad appeared rattled. The President’s minions at the anti-drug body kept spouting suspicious statements like she didn’t have the right to have that list or that she should just focus on improving the advocacy and rehabilitation clusters of the committee.

She also recommended that the committee switch to a health-based approach rather than killing drug suspects left and right.

Butch Olano, section director of Nobel-laureate Amnesty International Philippines, hit the nail squarely in the head when posited that Robredo was booted out because in the 18 days she held the office of Icad co-chair it was getting clearer that she was taking the job seriously.

She demanded real reforms to the anti-drug campaign of this administration.

“Every week, more cracks appear in the Duterte administration’s murderous campaign against poor people. In only a few weeks, Vice President Robredo was able to confront the government with the staggering scale of its crimes. That is why she was sacked,” Olano said in a statement Sunday evening.

Now, more than ever, it is clear that Robredo’s appointment was a mere publicity stunt and a bluff since the war drug has captured the attention of international human rights bodies, including the United Nations.

Methinks, they didn’t count on Robredo to call their bluff. That’s the reason why this administration has been hell-bent in denying her access to information surrounding the bloody anti-drug campaign of the President. The President had clipped the wings he gave her.

So, I ask you now, my dear readers, how could she possibly perform the tasks as co-chair? Who do you think is serious in stamping out the drug menace in our country? Pfft.