EDITORIAL – Duterte’s fears

President Rodrigo Duterte’s firing of Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD) is understandable. Since day one of Robredo’s ICAD position, Duterte knew that he could not trust the vice president considering that she has been a vocal critic in his war on illegal drugs.

For those who closely follow the political conflict between the administration and the opposition, Robredo’s removal from ICAD is not really surprising, considering the fact that her stand on the anti-drug campaign greatly contradicts the administration’s policy.

Therefore, Duterte expects the vice president, as the drug czar, will certainly take steps that are contrary to what he wants as far as the approach he has taken since day one in the drug war is concerned.

In fact, Robredo has already been saying her style in the drug war will be completely different from Duterte’ approach, as her campaign will focus on the rehabilitation of those hooked on drugs. She vowed that under her watch, there will be no extrajudicial killing in police and PDEA operations.

This, perhaps, led Duterte to be concerned about the anti-drug campaign losing momentum once law enforcement agencies, under Robredo’s guidance, will go slow in their operations against those dealers and traffickers in an effort to avoid casualties.

Aside from that, the vice president’s access to secret documents on the drug campaign can be Duterte’s biggest mistake in line with Robredo’s appointment as drug czar, since she might reveal sensitive information to the public or to her partymates in the opposition.

To avoid those fears, the president seems to have no other choice than to fire Robredo. For the administration, it was a smart move since the president, in the first place, does not really trust the vice president.

However, there are many who consider Robredo’s firing as a bad move. For them, Duterte should have left the vice president to continue handling the job, since her success will only prove he was right in appointing her.