Leni Robredo on drug list: I know what can be shared

Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday the government’s campaign against narcotics could be made transparent without jeopardizing sensitive information.

“We want to be transparent as much as possible, so that the public knows what is happening. But we will not divulge sensitive information that might jeopardize the campaign,” Leni Robredo said in her weekly radio show.

“I understand what can be shared with the media, and those that cannot be divulged, because these are sensitive [information],” she added.

Beyond her mandate

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino had earlier said it was beyond Robredo’s mandate to request a copy of the list of high-value targets. But thereafter he said he was open to sharing that information, but only in a closed-door meeting, with his cochair in the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (Icad), Leni Robredo.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo had earlier warned that Robredo risked being fired if she revealed state secrets to foreign officials.

On Wednesday, Leni Robredo met with officials from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and from the US Embassy to discuss the antidrug campaign.

On Sunday, Panelo told dzIQ that President Duterte was only advising Robredo that she might be “treading on dangerous ground” when she sought access to classified information on the drug war.

Clarification on new task

“You should be glad that you are being given advice. You should welcome that. If someone higher or older than you, a veteran of those affairs or an expert, is giving advice, then you should always welcome that because you learn from them,” Panelo said.

Mr. Duterte has yet to meet with Robredo since appointing her as Icad cochair.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who advises Robredo on her new task, has suggested that she seeks clarification from Malacañang about her mandate.

Panelo also said, “But I’m sure the VP, being a lawyer, is aware. I don’t think she would do that unless she proves us wrong.”

Robredo said that among Icad’s functions was to “ensure the effective conduct of anti-illegal drugs operations and arrest of high-value drug personalities.”

“My question is: How can I ensure this when I don’t even have the information? How can I ensure that these high-value targets are arrested, when I don’t even know how many they are, the status of their arrests, and what the available information are and what remains lacking?” she said.

“The order of the President was to give me free rein, and for the agencies to cooperate. If they wish not to, it’s their call,” she added.

Robredo said she was due to submit a second report to Malacañang this week.—WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO