Locsin thanks Robredo for meeting with UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Tuesday approved of Vice President Leni Robredo's recent meeting with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Thank you Leni. I’ve been trying without success to get us engaged with Vienna’s UNODC which is focused on fighting drug trafficking and dealing, not coddling them like Geneva," Locsin said in a Twitter post.

"UNODC is currently headed by a Russian so we can trust it," he added.

Yury Fedotov of the Russian Federation leads the UNODC as its executive director since 2010.

Robredo, the newly-appointed co-chair of the country's Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD), met with officials of the UNODC on Monday morning.

However, it was not immediately clear whether or not the meeting had anything to do with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) pending investigation on the deaths blamed on the war on drugs.

But at least two senators — Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Ronald dela Rosa — said the Philippines will not get much from Robredo’s meeting with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the possible meeting with the United States Embassy.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa said the drug problem in the Philippines is different from the situation in other countries such as the United States, Mexico, and Colombia.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, on the other hand, said other countries are not familiar with the drug problem of the Philippines.

“Ano ang matututunan natin doon, hindi nila alam ang problema sa Pilipinas. Meron silang sariling United States Drug Control Policy Program na ‘yung iba patterned doon sa UN strategy pero ang UN ODC medyo hindi rin malinaw kung ano ang strategies,” Sotto told reporters Monday.

“Kanya-kanyang thinking ‘yan. Kung sa tingin nila makakatulong, then go ahead. My personal opinion, wala tayong mapapala doon,” he added.

Rehab centers

Office of the Vice President Undersecretary Boyet Dy said on Monday the meeting with UNODC tackled how to improve community-based rehabilitation centers.

“We have learned that 90% of the problem are those slight or occasional drug users lang and which community-based rehabilitation programs would suffice. Ten percent lang iyong kailangan ng institutional intervention, meaning iyong kailangan na in-patient. These are government records,” Dy said.

“Kaya ang naging focus nung usapan with UNODC ay iyong karanasan ng ating mga karatig bansa sa Southeast Asia, iyong best practices, at iyong gaps na puedeng tugunan at mapabuti,” Dy added.

Dy said Robredo and UNODC agreed to learn and build from the experiences in Southeast Asia.

He, however, gave no other details on the discussions with the UNODC reps, explaining that some of the matters discussed were confidential in nature.

Last July, the Geneva-based UNHRC voted to have an investigation into thousands of killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

Locsin previously expressed opposition to the said probe, describing it a "travesty" incited by "false information." —Dona Magsino/KG/RSJ, GMA News