OVP says no truth in Facebook post that it asked money for drug rehab program

The Office of the Vice President on Monday branded as untrue the circulating Facebook post which alleged that the OVP turned down a group offering a drug rehabilitation program for free, supposedly saying the project needed to be funded so its staff could get paid.

The post included a photo of Vice President Leni Robredo with the Duterte administration officials involved in its anti-drug campaign.

"Walang katotohanan ang kumakalat na Facebook post kung saan humihingi ang Office of the Vice President ng pondo para sa isang programa na makakatulong sa drug rehabilitation," the OVP said in a statement.

(The circulating Facebook post stating our office is asking  or funds for drug rehabilitation purposes is not true.)

"Ang larawang ginamit sa nasabing post ay mula sa isang pagpupulong ni Leni Robredo bilang ICAD co-chair, kasama ang Kalihim ng DILG at iba pang mga opisyal nito, para pag-usapan ang mahalagang papel ng mga LGU sa kampanya laban sa iligal na droga," it added.

(The photo used was taken when the Vice President, as then ICAD co-chair, met Department of Interior Local Government officials, among others, to discuss the important work of LGU in the government's anti-illegal drug campaign.)

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Robredo as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Illegal Drugs (ICAD) in November 2019, but she was fired just after 19 days in the job due to being supposedly untrustworthy.

Robredo, however, released a report on her 19-day ICAD stint and revealed that based on police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) records, the illegal drug seizures made by PDEA did not even reach 1% of the PNP estimates of proliferation of 3,000 kilograms of shabu per week or 156,000 kilograms a year.

Robredo’s 40-page report on her 19-day stint as Inter-agency Committee Against Illegal Drugs (ICAD) also showed that while PDEA’s working number on drug users is four million, PDEA admitted that this estimate is not based on any scientific formula. Moreover, the PNP has only accounted for 1.5 million drug users, of which 1.2 million are surrenderers and over 300,000 arrested.

In closing, the OVP stressed that it will not resort to such unlawful soliciting tactics.

"Hindi magagawa ng Tanggapan at lalong wala tayong intensyon na gawin ang mga akusasyong nakapaloob sa post na ito. Hinihikayat natin ang lahat na maging mas mapanuri sa mga nababasa sa social media," it added.

(The OVP will never engage in such solicitation and will never intend to do so. We call on the public to be more discerning in what they read on social media.) —NB, GMA News