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Robredo on new post: 'Kung iniisip ko iyong 2022, hindi ko tatanggapin'

By LLANESCA T. PANTI,GMA News

TANAY, Rizal — Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said her acceptance of her appointment to the government's anti-drug body is not connected to the 2022 elections.

Though Robredo has yet to bare her plans for 2022, Malacañang, in encouraging her to accept the appointment, had said being co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD) could be her "ladder to the presidency."

Interviewed here during a humanitarian visit to Sitio Macantog, Robredo said she would've turned down the appointment if she were thinking about the next national elections.

"Kung iniisip ko iyong 2022, hindi ko ito tatanggapin kasi too much of a risk," she said. "Pero madedehado masyado ang ating mga kababayan pag kaming mga nakaupo tinitignan na agad ang 2022."

Robredo said her activities — including the one here where her office turned over solar kits to 60 families — are not for gaining political clout but for alleviating the plight of the poor.

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"Meron pa kaming dalawa at kalahating taon. Kung iniisip ko yung 2022, aakyat ba ako sa bundok na kaunti ang tao?" she said, referring to her three-hour trek to Sitio Macantog.

"Bakit ko sasayangin ang oras ko dito na sobrang hirap umakyat para lang makausap iyong mga kaunting tao na karamihan nga siguro sa kanila hindi ako kilala?"

Robredo said thinking about 2022 would "compromise" her programs, including whatever action she would take in ICAD.

Robredo is eligible to run for President in 2022, but President Rodrigo Duterte has said recently that the people should not vote for her because "kawawa kayo (you will end up pitiful)." The President did not elaborate.

The ICAD post was offered to Robredo after she commented that the government's controversial drug war is not working since the number of drug traffickers and users are still rising despite the deaths of many drug suspects in police operations. —KBK, GMA News