Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo is again welcome to join Cabinet meetings once she accepts the position of Co-Chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Malacañang said Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte, in an October 31, 2019-memorandum to Robredo, said he has designated her as co-chair of ICAD “to lead the government’s efforts against illegal drugs until 30 June 2022, unless sooner revoked.”
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Robredo’s new appointment is a Cabinet rank.
“The moment she accepts it she can join us in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday,” Panelo said in an interview over CNN Philippines.
In a text message, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said Robredo would have “a pro-active role in the government’s war against illegal drugs” as ICAD co-chair.
“She will have a hand in crafting the policies and programs of the gov’t and at the same time ensure the proper implementation of anti-illegal drug operations and advocacy initiatives,” Medialdea added.
“The PDEA, PNP, and all government law enforcement agencies,” he further said, “ have been directed to give their full cooperation and assistance” to the Vice President.
Robredo, who was the former chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), was asked by Duterte in December 2016 to desist from attending Cabinet meetings.
She resigned from the Cabinet on December 5, 2016.
Robredo had earlier called Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, which has killed at least 5, 000 mostly poor Filipinos, as a failure. /kga