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PDEA chief Aaron Aquino and Vice President Leni Robredo/photo courtesy of Polotiko and Tempo
In an interview on CNN Philippines’ “The Source” Monday
(November 4), the chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)
Director General Aaron Aquino is certain that Vice President Leni Robredo will
only fail once she accepts President Rodrigo Duterte's offer to lead the
government’s anti-drug campaign.
“Personally, if you will ask me, sa palagay ko
she will fail,” the PDEA chief said
Aquino said the vice president said does not have extensive
knowledge about fighting illegal drugs nor enough experience on how to tackle
the country’s drug problem.
“I’ve been in the
Philippine National Police for 36 years. I’ve been in PDEA for more than two
years. It’s only now that I became the director general of PDEA that I have
known what is the real problem on illegal drugs,” Aquino said.
“Experience-wise,
this has been my job for 38 years. The vice president doesn’t have that
experience.” Aquino added.
The PDEA chief
even compared Robredo, to Duterte who has an extensive experience about battling
illegal drugs ever since he was mayor of Davao City.
However, Aquino
assured the Vice President of PDEA will give "101% support" to
Robredo should she accept the president’s offer.
On the other
hand, Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesperson, lambasted Aquino for questioning
the vice president’s capability to lead the drug war campaign.
“Paano ka namang maniniwala na seryoso
itong alok na maging 'drug czar' kung ngayon pa lang, sinisiraan na agad si VP
Leni ng mga taong dapat magpapatupad ng kampanya laban sa droga?” Gutierrez said.
“Paano magiging
maayos ang trabaho mo, kung ngayon pa lang, yung taong makakasama mo sa trabaho
ay ayaw kang magtagumpay? Mukhang nagiging malinaw kung ano talaga ang totoong
agenda sa usapang ito.” Gutierrez added.
President
Duterte announced last week that he would be transferring his “law enforcement
powers” to Robredo after the vice president call out the administration to assess
and tweak the strategies used in the drug war campaign by the administration.
Robredo
however, refused to comment on the chief executive’s offer, saying she will not
take the offer seriously.
Until recently,
the president made a new announcement regarding his offer to Robredo to lead
the anti-drug campaign as the president claimed that he is ready to appoint the
vice president in a Cabinet capacity as drug czar.
The position of
drug czar is not an official rank or title in the Philippine government,
although it is referred colloquially to PDEA chief.
The vice
president’s camp emphasized that Robredo should not be used as a scapegoat for
the administration’s failure of the drug war campaign.
“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,” Gutierrez stressed on Thursday.
Source:
Philstar
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