Palace: Robredo can’t have access to classified info
Credit to Author: Catherine S. Valente, TMT| Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:11:27 +0000
She has barely warmed her seat as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal (ICAD), but Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo has been accused of committing blunders.
These “missteps” prompted President Rodrigo Duterte not to appoint her as member of the Cabinet and deny her request for classified information on the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte’s “disinclination” to appoint Robredo to the Cabinet stemmed from her recent meetings with foreign groups and personalities critical of the drug war and her insistence on getting access to classified information.
Last week, Robredo held meetings with United States officials, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime representatives and other community-based advocacy groups to discuss ways on management of the drug menace.
“The vice president talking with — and seeking the advice of — certain foreign institutions and personalities that have prejudged the campaign against illegal drugs as a violation of human rights, as well as a crime against humanity, did not sit well with the President. The VP’s actions are all documented in mainstream and social media,” Panelo said.
“These missteps not only derailed PRRD’s (President Duterte) well-meaning intent for the vice president to be part of the administration, but registered red signs that could not be ignored,” he added.
Panelo said Robredo’s “insistence” on getting access to classified information added to the President’s reconsideration of his desire to appoint her to the Cabinet.
He noted that revealing such information “could imperil the welfare of the Filipino people and the security of the state.”
“Her requests for unrestricted data to help her fulfill her role are an admission that the earlier criticisms of the political opposition to which she belongs against the anti-drug operations have no factual basis,” the Palace official added.
Panelo said Duterte still trusts Robredo as drug czar, but that the Chief Executive had “reservations” on trusting the vice president with state secrets.
He maintained that Robredo would not be given access to classified information.
“Being a member of the Cabinet gives Ms. Robredo unlimited access to sensitive state matters which, if transmitted by her whether purposely or otherwise, could result to adverse consequences, especially since the VP has the tendency to be generous with acquired information and knowledge to others whose predilection may not be in the best interest of the country,” Panelo said.
The Palace earlier said the ICAD post was a Cabinet-level position. However, in a recent television interview, Duterte clarified that Robredo was not part of his Cabinet despite her designation as ICAD co-chairman.
“She is not a member of the Cabinet. I have not appointed her as a Cabinet member,” the President stressed.
Duterte also threatened to remove Robredo from her ICAD post if she shared state secrets with foreign individuals and groups.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) also balked at sharing the high value targets list with Robredo.
PNP Officer in Charge Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa said Robredo should not interfere in their anti-illegal drug operations and should just focus on rehabilitation.
“Would it really matter if you know who are on the list?” he asked Robredo.
On Tuesday, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) pledged to support Robredo.
“There may be perceived differences insofar as the strategies, policies and programs are concerned, but at the end of the day, what binds ICAD together is the commitment to eradicate the drug problem for the sake of present and future generations,” DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.
“We assure her of the support and cooperation of the DILG and its attached agencies to make her succeed in her task as ICAD co-chair,” he added.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año and the heads of the department’s attached agencies briefed Robredo on the drug war campaign and “hear her thoughts on future steps to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.”
Malaya said they had a “long” and “fruitful” talk with Robredo on the need to “synergize, synchronize and harmonize all the efforts of the various ICAD Member-Agencies.”
“We are one with the vice president in this difficult journey of ending the illegal drugs problem in our country that has destroyed the lives of our youth, destroyed so many families, and shattered the future of so many of our countrymen,” he pointed out.
WITH DARWIN PESCO