By: Ninez Cacho-Olivares (tribune.net.ph)
Will Leni also take responsibility and accountability for any increase in the smuggling of drugs, the proliferation of the drug lords and the loss of lives of police and other anti-illegal drug agents?
Now that Vice President Leni Robredo has accepted her appointment as President Duterte’s “Drug Czar” and for her to lead the drug war, she is now portraying herself as yet another “political martyr” under the Duterte administration.
In accepting her new post, Robredo succeeded in showing herself as more of a shrew even as she plays martyr, as she was quoted as saying, “Even if we say that the offer was mere politicking and the government agencies will not follow me and they will do everything for me not to succeed, I’m ready to bear all of these. Because if I can save one innocent life, my principles and heart are telling me I should give it a try.”
The Vice President should have been more careful with her words, especially when they pertain to the officers, the rank and file she will have to work with, if she intends to succeed in her new post as the drug czarina.
Instead, Leni already gave the government agencies of which she would be in charge of, and obviously in charge too of their personnel, a grave insult, as she had already prejudged them, saying that these agencies and the employees will do everything to make her fail at her new job, although she claims she is ready to “bear” all of these for the sake of saving one innocent life.
Quit the dramatics, Leni. It doesn’t work.
Clearly, Leni is not fit to take on the job, and it certainly is not a good beginning for her and the concerned inter-governmental agencies, as well as their employees.
So, pray tell, Leni, do you think you lifted the spirits of the heads and the employees of the offices you will be heading with your early condemnation and your distrust of them?
A good and competent boss never disparages her people. She needs them to succeed because the truth is, she can’t do the job alone. Nobody can — unless of course, being a yellow type and knowing that she would fail miserably at her new job, Leni is already preparing for her imminent failure, and no doubt, lay the blame on the officers and personnel’s lack of cooperation, as well as Duterte.
She would be pointing to the heads of the inter-governmental agencies against illegal drugs as the reason for her failed attempts to stop the drug war, or, as she herself put it, she would end up saying that she bore all the slings and arrows for the one life she has saved.
But if, as head of the entire inter-agencies against narcotics, a lot more die due to a firefight between law enforcers and drug dealers, will she throw the book at the law enforcers, even when proved that the police acted in self defense?
Robredo did say that in her intention to curb drug killings, she would hold accountable not only drug smugglers, large-scale traffickers and “ninja cops” who recycle illegal drugs, but also those behind rights abuses in waging the war.
But will Leni also take responsibility and accountability for any increase in the smuggling of drugs, the proliferation of the drug lords and the loss of lives of police and other anti-illegal drug agents?
The heads of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) should bare to the public the official death figures and the steps they have made in curbing the smuggling of drugs and the stoppage of drug distribution, as the yellows are known to take credit for something they never achieved on their own.
Robredo also made clear that her appointment as co-chair of ICAD would not stop her from criticizing the administration’s wrong policies, something which no Cabinet ranked official should do — at least not in public.
She can, of course, raise her objections in Cabinet meetings or in private meetings with the President, but apparently, Leni will also be using her new position to hit out at Duterte some more — and evidently, to make herself look good.
In accepting her appointment, Leni was quoted as saying, “The President knows my position on the drug war. I’m against the killings of the innocent. I’m against abusive officials. He knows my criticisms. He knows what I would like to fix.”
Leni dared her critics to be ready as she takes the helm of the anti-narcotics campaign, with her saying, “This drug war issue is not something to be taken lightly. This is a serious matter as lives are at stake here. They asked me if I’m ready for this job. I’m returning the question to them. Are you ready for me?” she said.
Careful, Leni. You may just have to eat your words.
She stressed that “if he (Duterte) thinks I’ll accept (the job) and I’ll keep silent, he is wrong.”
It should also be added, if Leni thinks she can do the job right, she is wrong.