Cayetano: Robredo's call to end drug war killings is 'all talk'

Vice President Leni Robredo has been "all talk" so far in her new role as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD), Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Monday.

Cayetano was referring to the comments made by Robredo last week when she called on ICAD to stop senseless drug-related killings because the success of the anti-drug campaign cannot be measured by body count.

"I've been monitoring for the last three days, and parang from 'Operating Tokhang', parang naging 'Operation All-Talk' eh. Well, nagulat ako. I guess it just so happens that the Vice President is the favorite [of the] media, or she likes media exposure," Cayetano said.

Robredo accepted the post, a presidential appointment, last week. President Rodrigo Duterte offered her the job after the Vice President commented that the drug war is not working as drug dependents and traffickers remain on the rise based on government reports.

Aside from her call for zero drug war killings, Robredo also reached out to various sectors and had set a meeting with UN officials for insights on eradicating the drug menace.

Cayetano, however, argued that Robredo should temper her criticisms since she is new to the job.

"Pag-upo pa lang, 'UN papasukin daw, tokhang tanggalin mo, etc.' So it's hard to know... why already all of these ideas and criticisms?" Cayetano added.

At least 5,700 drug suspects have been killed in the drug war during police operations but this figure does not include drug-related deaths committed by unidentified gunmen.

Robredo's spokesman, former Akbayan Representative Ibarra Gutierrez said the Speaker should refrain from criticizing the new ICAD co-chair if he could not contribute to the efforts against drugs.

“Nagsisimula pa lang si Vice President sa trabahong ipinasa sa kanya ng Pangulo. Wala pa siyang kahit isang linggo," Gutierrez said in a statement.

"Kung hindi magawang tumulong ni Speaker Cayetano sa ginagawang trabaho ni Vice President, kahit man lang umiwas muna siya sa paninira,” he added. 

“Kailangan ng buong gobyernong magtulungan sa kampanya laban sa iligal na droga. Kung ganito pa lang kaaga mag-aaway-away na tayo, ang mga drug lords lang ang matutuwa,” Gutierrez said.

Cayetano was one of the candidates Robredo defeated in the 2016 vice presidential race.  —KG/NB, GMA News