Vice President Leni Robredo chats with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año during a meeting at the DILG office in Quezon City on Tuesday, November 19, 2019. Robredo met DILG officials and discussed the agency’s efforts in the campaign against illegal drugs. Officials of DILG and the Philippine National Police have briefed the Vice President on their respective anti-illegal drugs strategies. (Photo by Jay Ganzon, OVP)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday met with officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure the participation of local government units (LGUs) in the campaign against illegal drugs.
“Basically ang involvement ng DILG ay to make sure that the LGUs are aboard on the campaign against drugs particularly on the establishment of anti-drug abuse councils at tsaka bilang lead sa advocacy cluster, tayo ay nangunguna kung paano ipaalam sa publiko yung mga polisiya natin sa anti-drugs,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año told reporters after the meeting.
(Basically, the involvement of DILG is to make sure LGUs are aboard on the campaign against drugs particularly on the establishment of anti-drug councils. And as the lead for the advocacy cluster, we are at the forefront of informing the public on our policies on anti-drugs.)
According to Año, the meeting mainly discussed DILG’s roles within the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD). He added the recent remark of Philippine National Police (PNP) officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, urging Robredo to take on the advocacy and rehabilitation aspect of the anti-drug campaign instead of law enforcement, was not taken up.
Robredo has been appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as ICAD co-chair. She earlier called for a re-assessment of the administration’s drug war.
Año said that as ICAD co-chair, Robredo is expected to lead all member-agencies in carrying out the administration’s anti-illegal drug campaign.
Asked what could be Robredo’s role in the law enforcement component of ICAD, Año said the Vice President could help refine the campaign plan of the enforcement cluster.
“Yung paggawa ng operational plan, pwede siya mag-sit down doon at makita niya ang provisions, pati policy formulation,” Año noted.
(In the creation of the operational plan, she [Robredo] can sit down with officials for her to see the provisions, as well as policy formation.)
“Actual operations, we leave it to the law enforcers; but [in the] after-review, ‘yung tinatawag nating evaluation every quarter, pwede umupo ang VP doon at pwede niya ibigay ang kanyang observation kasi may link siya sa public,” he added.
(Actual operations, we leave it to the law enforcers; but [in the] after-review, or what we call evaluation every quarter, the VP can join there and she can share her observations since she has a link with the public.)
Robredo’s camp earlier argued that only Duterte can define or limit the Vice President’s role as co-chair of ICAD.