Robredo’s anti-drug czar post not a Cabinet position —Palace

Vice President Leni Robredo's co-chairmanship of the Inter-agency Council on Anti-Illegal Drugs does not carry with it a Cabinet rank, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Monday night.

Panelo made the remark after her co-chair in the ICAD, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino, balked at giving her a copy of the list of high value targets in the campaign against illegal drugs.

Philippine National Police officer in charge Police General Archie Gamboa said the PNP would follow the PDEA's lead on the matter.

"The post she was appointed to is not a Cabinet level. The discretion to appoint her as a member of the Cabinet, in addition to her appointment as the anti-illegal drug czar, lies with the President," Panelo said in a statement.

In an earlier interview with CNN Philippines, Panelo said the Robredo's appointment to the ICAD carried with it a Cabinet rank.

"It is! It is a Cabinet rank. In other words, she will be joining us at the Cabinet and she’s welcome," Panelo said.

President Rodrigo Duterte himself indicated that Robredo's needed to be a Cabinet official if she would lead the anti-drug campaign.

"If I would take her in as the drug czar, I will have to first make her a Cabinet member. Then I will give her the marching orders and the specific functions. All in connection with drugs, kanya," Duterte said.

"I will swear her as a Cabinet member. First, balik siya so that she will have the authority," he added. —NB, GMA News