Duterte tells Robredo to read EO 15 to know role in ICAD

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Vice President Leni Robredo to check the Executive Order (EO) that created the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD) to know the scope of her powers.

Robredo claimed she has asked Duterte in writing for the specifics of her position as ICAD co-chair after some member-agencies resisted in giving her a copy of the list of high-value drug targets.

Duterte, however, said EO 15, which he issued in March 2017 establishing ICAD, should be enough and everything Robredo is looking for is already there.

“It’s there in the law, it’s there in the executive order creating itong ICAD … Nandiyan ‘yan (It’s there),” Duterte told reporters in an interview in Davao City on Saturday.

“So basahin lang niya ‘yan (She should just read it). It’s all there and that is where she would really exercise ‘yung – kung mayroon,” he said.

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EO 15 states that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), as ICAD chairperson, has the “overall responsibility to ensure that the objectives of the ICAD and the clusters herein created are accomplished.”

Article continues after this advertisement Asked how Robredo and PDEA chief Aaron Aquino would share their job, Duterte said: “It would greatly depend on what they agree upon. There are the broad outlines provided in that…” ICAD is composed of the Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Local Government, Dangerous Drugs Board, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Health, Anti-Money Laundering Council, Office of the Solicitor General, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Philippine Information Agency, Public Attorney’s Office, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Customs, and the Bureau of Immigration.

“The ICAD shall ensure that each member agency shall implement and comply with all policies, laws, and issuances pertaining to the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign in an integrated and synchronized manner,” the executive order states.

Its tasks include ensuring the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations and arrest of high-value drug personalities and street-level peddlers and users, it added.

Duterte had promised to appoint Robredo to a Cabinet rank position and let her lead his controversial war on drugs after the latter criticized the government’s brutal anti-drug campaign.

But Malacañang clarified that Robredo’s ICAD post is not a Cabinet position with Duterte claiming that he doesn’t trust the Vice President enough for him to appointment her to such a rank.

Edited by KGA