MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte is serious in his offer for Vice President Leni Robredo to take over the law enforcement and drug war duties, Malacañang said Tuesday.
“Susulatan pa nga eh. Kung hindi ka seryoso bakit mo pa susulatan (He will even write to her. Why will he do that if he isn’t serious?),” Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
“Merong bang hindi serious na inaanounce mo nationally?” he added.
Panelo issued the remark after Robredo refused to react to Duterte’s initiative for now, saying that she does not know if the President was serious.
On Monday, President Duterte said is wiling to surrender the power to enforce the law and eventually hand to Robredo the keys to his war against illegal drugs, after the latter again criticized the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
“The opposition, they always hanker on to riding on issues. Like Robredo, she is very persistent about human rights. As a matter of fact, I am sending a letter to her through Secretary Mediadea,” Duterte said during the appointment of new officials in Malacañang.
“I will surrender my powers to enforce the law, I’ll hand it over to the Vice President. I’ll give it to her for six months. Let her take over. And let’s see. I won’t interfere. You want that? Are you smart enough? Okay. You try it. I’ve been a mayor for so long and nobody can fool me that easily,” he added.
Robredo earlier said Duterte’s brutal war on drugs needs reassessment as the numbers of dead drug suspects rise. /gsg>