President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that he could not give his full trust to Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo because of two reasons: she is with the opposition, and Duterte does not know here.
Duterte dropped the statement following his decision to discontinue his initial plan to include VP Leni Robredo in his cabinet as a co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Drugs (ICAD).
“Ang problema kasi dito, ganito (The problem here is this), I cannot trust her not only because she is with the opposition. I do not trust her because I do not know her,” Duterte said in a press conference with Palace reporters at Malacañan Palace late Tuesday night.
Vice President Leni Robredo accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer to be the co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Ilegal Drugs (ICAD) on November 6.
Robredo said she would target zero killings in the government’s war on drugs campaign.
“Wala sa plano natin ang pagpatay kasi wala iyon sa bounds ng rule of law. Iyon ‘yung ating directive,” said the Vice President.
(Killing is not in our plan because it is not within the bounds of the rule of law. That is our directive.)
Duterte cannot trust, appoint Robredo as Cabinet member
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said earlier Tuesday that the President Duterte had reservations in selecting Robredo as ICAD co-chair because of the “red signs that cannot be ignored by the President.”
Panelo said Duterte does not trust Robredo to keep confidential records about the government’s war on drugs campaign.
“Delikado ‘yan kasi doon siya sa kabila. Nandito ako. Nagtatapunan kami ng basura (It’s dangerous because she’s from the opposition. I’m from the other party. We’re throwing garbage at each other),” Duterte said.
“If I make her a Cabinet member, then she would demand, ‘Cabinet member na ako (I’m a Cabinet member), you gave me this job, then I will have to dwell on the records and everything that I wanted to know, or I want to know.’ So, to my mind, in my own estimation, it’s not good for the country,” the President added.