File photo by MARCELINO PASCUA / Presidential Photographers Division
MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday dared Vice President Leni Robredo to release her supposed discovery in the administration’s drug war.
“You seem to be threatening na may information ka (that you have information. Ilabas mo (Release it),” Duterte told reporters in Malacañang.
Following her firing as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Robredo vowed to fight on and announced that she would disclose something she discovered in the course of waging her version of the war on drugs.
Duterte fired Robredo from the anti-drug body on Sunday, November 24, or less than 20 days after the opposition stalwart accepted her appointment as ICAD co-chair.
During her stay in the anti-drug body, Duterte said Robredo just “made an asshole of herself” after she met with the officials of Embassy of the United States in Manila, which included representatives from US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of State and United States Agency for International Development.
Earlier, Duterte’s spokesman and legal counsel Salvador Panelo cast doubts on the veracity of Robredo’s alleged discovery, noting that the Vice President should have immediately publicized if she indeed found an irregularity.
Kung meron kang natuklasanang hindi maganda, di ba dapat inilalabas mo na? Eh kung gagawa ka palang ng ‘di umanong natuklasan mo, it will really take time to craft (If you discovered an irregularity, you should have publicized it immediately, right? But if you’re still crafting your alleged discovery, ti will really take time to craft),” Panelo said.
Asked if he is suggesting that the contents of the Vice President’s report are fabricated, Panelo replied: “Presumably.”