MANILA – After accepting the position as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Vice President Leni Robredo said she will push for a new standard in measuring the success of the antidrug campaign.
Instead of counting the number of deaths due to antidrug operations, Robredo said the success of the government’s drug war should be measured by how many lives have been changed by the rehabilitation.
“Una, papalitan natin iyong metrics. Iyong metrics, hindi sa numero ng pinapatay, pero sa numero ng napapabuting mga buhay. Titingnan natin kung seryoso…kung seryoso lahat na sabay-sabay nating pagtutulungan na maayos ito,” Robredo added.
“Ang ire-reset lang natin iyong hindi nagwo-work, saka iyong ire-reset natin iyong mga ginagawa na sa labas ng bounds ng rule of law, social justice, saka human rights. Pero iyong lahat na within those bounds, itutuloy natin at lalong ise-strengthen,” she said.
“Alam ko na maraming mga members sa ICAD na may kaniya-kaniya nang programang ginagawa. ‘Yun ‘yung titingnan natin. Titingnan natin kung may unified na rules of procedure sa mga law enforcement agencies, kasi ‘yung naging problema in the past nandoon talaga,” she added.
Robredo said she wanted to ask data from the committee on drug-related killings and law enforcement operations, while knowing the status of the administration’s campaign.
“‘Yung pinakaklaro na mensahe natin sa kanila, ‘yung laban sa ilegal na droga will continue with the same vigor, with the same intensity, with the same strength. Ang iibahin talaga natin, ‘yung manner by which ginagawa ito,” she added.
“Klaro sa aking pananalita ‘yung number one na concern natin ‘yung patayan. Kasi naniniwala ako na kaya nating ituloy ‘yung laban with the same vigor, na within the bounds of rule of law, human rights, ‘yung standards of procedure,” she said.
Last month, Robredo called on Duterte to allow the United Nations to investigate into his war on drugs which she said was “obviously not working,” prompting the challenge for her to lead the drug war.
She later said that she meant to urge administration leaders to “step back and assess” the narcotics crackdown./PN
