Palace calls on Robredo to present evidence that gov’t is a murderous regime

Vice President Leni Robredo should provide evidence that the administration is a murderous regime or else she could face a charge in court, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday. 

Roque was responding to Robredo’s comments who characterized the deaths of nine activists on Sunday, March 9, during police operations in Calabarzon as a condemnable massacre

Robredo also said the Filipino people are better than the murderous regime led by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Kung personal niyang nakita ang nangyari, magbigay siya ng ebidensiya. 'Pag 'di siya nagbigay ng ebidensiya, baka siya ay makasuhan,” Roque said during a Palace briefing.

“Kung hindi niya nakita ng personal ang pangyayari katulad ng Presidente at ng publiko, mag-antay siya ng resulta ng imbestigasyon. This is an issue of fact. Kung may krimen na nangyari, ang unang ebidensiya na maisasama ay iyong investigation report ng pulis,” he added.

Roque then dismissed Robredo as the one always getting things wrong. 

“Kung ganyan po ang conclusion ng Vice President na wala siya doon sa pangyayari, as usual, mali ang ating Vice President,” Roque added.

The Department of Justice and the Commission on Human Rights are already probing the deaths of the nine activists who were killed while the police were serving search warrants. 

The police have maintained that the activists resisted arrest and were armed, but relatives of those who were killed and witnessed the bloodshed maintained that their slain loved ones were unarmed. 

Back in January 2020, Robredo said the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war is a failure considering that the shabu supply and drug money were reduced by only 1% in the last three years from 2016 to 2019. 

Robredo, who released the report after she was fired from her post as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Council Against Illegal Drugs (ICAD), cited Philippine National Police estimates that 3,000 kilograms of shabu worth P25 billion are consumed per week. She also said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was only able to seize 1,344.87 kilograms in 2019 alone — a paltry figure even if it was an improvement from 2017 and 2018 seizures, which reached 1,053.91 kilograms and 785.31 kilograms, respectively.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council, on the other hand, reported P1.4 billion worth of frozen assets which are related to the illegal drug trade as of February 2019, the latest available government data.

“Kumbaga sa exam, one out of 100 ang score ng gobyerno. Malinaw na malinaw, sa kabila ng dami ng Pilipinong pinatay, isang porsyento lang ang naipit na suplay ng shabu at pera na may kinalaman sa droga,” Robredo said. —KG, GMA News