Sen. Bong Go. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO / CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines — “Patayin mo lahat ng mga drug lords.”
(Kill all the drug lords).
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go posed this dare to Vice President Leni Robredo after President Rodrigo Duterte appointed her as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
READ: Duterte appoints Robredo co-chair of gov’t committee vs illegal drugs
Go had earlier challenged Robredo to accept the post.
“Makikita mo gaano kahirap…ganito gawin mo, patayin mo lahat ng mga drug lords. Subukan mong patayin,” Go told reporters at the Senate on Tuesday.
(You will see how hard it is…here what you should do, kill all the drug lords. Try to kill them).
He then cited a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed that 82 percent of Filipinos said they were satisfied with the administration’s bloody drug war.
“Malay mo umabot ng 90 percent yung sasangayon. May kanya-kanya tayong style, baka may panibago ka namang style sa pagsugpo ng iligal na droga,” he added.
(Who knows, the percentage of those who are satisfied may climbed to 90 percent. We all have our own style to eliminate illegal drugs).
“Pagdating ng July 1 at hindi ka nag-succeed at hindi mo napatay yung mga drug lords, ako naman magtatanong sayo: Ma’am, ba’t hindi niyo pinatay yung mga drug lords?” he further said.
(When July 1 comes and you did not succeed and you did not kill the drug lords, it would be my turn to ask you: Ma’am, why were you not able to kill the drug lords?)
While he challenged Robredo to accept the anti-drug post, Go said the Vice President could not be forced to take the position.
“Hindi natin siya mapipilit. Binigay na po lahat sa kanya, nandyan na yung designation,” he said.
(We cannot force her. It was already given to her, the designation is already there).
The President had earlier said he would surrender his power over law enforcement to Robredo and offered to be the country’s anti-drug czar.
This after the Vice President criticized the drug war, claiming that it is “not working” and urged the Duterte administration to reassess its approach.
The drug war, which Duterte launched when he assumed office in 2016, has received widespread condemnation from local and international rights.
The administration’s campaign against illegal drugs also earned a lot of rebuke from the international organizations and local rights groups.
Last July, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) even adopted an Iceland-initiated resolution that would prompt the rights body to launch a thorough review of the human-rights situation in the Philippines, including drug war killings under the Duterte administration.
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Duterte, who launched the drug war when he came into power in 2016, has also gained international condemnation for his crackdown on illegal drugs which has so far killed at least 5,000, mostly poor people, nationwide. /jpv