By firing Robredo, Duterte’s drug war is further exposed as a sham
By firing Vice President Robredo from her position as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committe on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), President Duterte has succeeded only in making himself look stupid.
Duterte claims he fired Robredo two weeks after appointing her for failing to come up with a plan to end the country’s drug problem, something he has failed to achieve for more than three years now, and which he first promised to end in six months.
Duterte had wanted to set up Vice President Robredo to fail in her appointed task by ensuring that the police and other agencies will be uncooperative with her. In doing so, however, the Duterte government merely succeeded in further exposing its drug war as a sham.
Contrary to Duterte’s aim, his firing of Robredo from the ICAD will have the counter-effect of encouraging more and more people to support her call to end the spate of extra-judicial killings perpetrated in the course of the drug war.
The Party enjoins Vice President Robredo to close ranks with the people, especially the tens of thousands of victims of the drug war, in their demand for justice. The upcoming Human Rights Day on December 10 will be an auspicious day to amplify this call across the country and the world.