Czar lang

By Cong Corrales

WHY are the supposed anti-illegal drugs advocates so afraid of what the Veep could accomplish as the newly appointed co-chair of this administration’s war on drugs?

I honestly ask this question to myself. Since President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Vice President Ma. Leonor Robredo to share the helm of the campaign against illegal drugs, all of the former’s minions and trolls have nothing but sarcastic and downright insulting comments directed at the latter.

On Sunday, National Police officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa added to the long list of “mansplainers” of the Palace.

ABS-CBN News quoted Gamboa as saying that Robredo “should focus on improving the advocacy and rehabilitation clusters of her committee, and leave the campaign’s law enforcement side to relevant agencies such as the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.”

Has he read Robredo’s appointment papers? Does he know his place in the chain of command as far as the war on drugs is concerned? Being the co-chair of the entire campaign means that Robredo is right there beside the President at the very top rung of the ladder. If her appointment is to be graphed, her name would have a broken line right beside the President. In that graph, Gamboa is nowhere even near the top. He is an enforcer and should know his place.

Gamboa, sir, please leave the thinking and policy-making to people who are mandated to do just that. It’s not like you have done a bang-up job in enforcing the law.

Last week, the head of the anti-narcotics agency said Robredo may have been “misinformed” when she said China is the top source of narcotics in the Philippines. The guy seemed to forget that he said the very same thing last year. He said China is the top source of shabu circulating in the country.

Of course, we also have to mention senator cum presidential nanny Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, who went so far as suggesting that Robredo does not have the heart to kill drug lords. He said Robredo could just whisper the names of the drug lords to him so he can do the killing. That is so rich coming from a man who has done absolutely nothing in abating the still burgeoning illegal drug trade in the country.

Also, is the nanny admitting that the killings have been state-sponsored all these years? He has said these things like he has done it before. Could he please name the names of drug lords that this administration has ordered to be liquidated? The International Crimes Court could surely use that piece of information.

He said the President’s war on drugs is successful, pointing to the 82 percent approval rating of the people as shown in the September 2019 survey of the Social Weather Station.

Approval ratings are propaganda tools and should not be equated as actual performance ratings. The presidential nanny would do well to note that in that very same survey, 95 percent of the respondents felt that it was more “important” for the drug suspects to be caught and not killed.

 I will not mention that closet queen in Batasan Hills. His-her-its inane asides against Robredo does not warrant a response of any kind.

It has been three years since this bloody campaign started and where has it gotten us? So, why not give Robredo a chance. Like what the P10-million network of trolls of this administration always says on social media platforms, “tumulong na lang kayo.” Czar ninyong tanan uip! Pfft.