Robredo report unfair, says Cayetano: ‘What about Aquino admin stats?’

As far as Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is concerned, Vice President Leni Robredo gave a "very unfair" assessment of the President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs because she did not include the Aquino administration's own performance in her report.

In an interview with reporters in Taguig City on Wednesday, Cayetano also claimed that Robredo's conclusions do not support existing facts.

"Hindi naman niya kinompare yung dami ng huli ngayon sa dami ng huli noong past administration. Hindi niya kinompare yung dami ng drug operation ngayon sa dami ng drug operation dati. Hindi niya kinompare yung dami ng patay during the Aquino administration at ngayon," Cayetano said. 

"So kung sasabihin niya na palpak ang drug war, anong tawag mo doon sa dating administrasyon? Ultra palpak o kapalpak-palpakan?" he added.

In reporting her findings during her 19-day stint as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Drugs (ICAD), Robredo said that the Duterte administration's war on drugs has been a failure as it was only able to reduce shabu supply and drug money by 1% in the last three years.

She gave the Duterte administration a score of one out of 100 in its performance in solving the drug menace.

Robredo also said that it would be better if the Dangerous Drugs Board led the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD) instead of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and that Duterte himself should lead the anti-illegal drugs campaign.

Cayetano said it would be better if Robredo presents her findings before lawmakers at the House of Representatives facing agencies involved in the anti-drug drive.

"I-assume natin na she means well, let's assume that she's trying to propose a solution. Kung ganun ang sitwasyon, then inimbitahan namin sa Kongreso, I mean mag-volunteer siya, we will call the hearing anytime and we can have a discussion," he said.

"It's a non-confrontational hearing but more of, sige let's have PDEA there, let's have PNP, let's ICAD, let's have her, ilabas lahat ng facts," he added.

Cayetano also said it is impossible to have an "accurate" number of individuals involved in drugs because no one would admit that he or she is a drug user or pusher.

"Dito lang sa atin, kung may gumagamit ngayon, may aamin ba? Pwede kang magpa-survey, pero kahit sa survey, hindi mo alam kung sasagot. So it is not a guess-timate, hindi ito hinulaan. It is an estimate on the best available data," he said.

"So sana nga maging mas intellectually honest siya sa presentation niya nung facts. It's fair for her to say, sana mas may accurate. But to blame the government or to say that the government is not acting on the best estimate that it has is mali," he added. — BM, GMA News