PDEA chief : Robredo’s report on drug war ‘mere political attack’

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino slams Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni” Robredo regarding the report she released on the drug campaign as “a mere political attack” against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

"I see her recommendations as a mere political attack against President Rodrigo Duterte," Aquino said.

Robredo was co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) for a mere 18 days, released a report regarding the administration’s war on illegal drugs and came up with a decision that it’s a “massive failure”  authorities have seized less than one percent of shabu supply since 2016.

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino  and VP Leni Robredo
(photo credit to owner)

“Vice President Leni Robredo’s statement is SADDENING – 18 days as ICAD co-chairman yet she has dismissed and ignored all of our government’s accomplishments and efforts for the past three years,” Aquino said.

Aquino explains that the metrics for the success of anti-illegal drug campaign were drug clearing, crime index, trust rating and operational accomplishments.

As per the Philippine National Police, 16,706 barangays out of 33,881 or 49.13 percent were cleared of illegal drugs while nationwide crime incidents went down from 11,860 in July 2016 to 5,000 in July 2019.

He added the PDEA has seized a total of P45 billion worth of illegal drugs from 2016 to 2019 from the 162,987 operations with 225,284 arrest.

"The trust rating of President Duterte, the author of the illegal drug war, is at its peak at 87 percent last December," Aquino said.

Aquino said 82 percent of Filipinos are satisfied with the campaign against illegal drugs as revealed in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey last September 2019.

"Ibig sabihin tama ang ginagawa ng ating national government. Gusto ng tao ang ginagawa ng Pangulong Duterte sa program kontra illegal na droga [This means that the government is doing it right. People like what President Duterte is doing against illegal drugs]," he said.

Aquino admitted that the current program is not perfect and still has a lot of areas where it can improve “that is what ICAD is addressing now”.

The PDEA director explains that the data from government was not messed up because the Dangerous Drugs Board  (DDB) has completed its survey and now on the final phase of data gathering.

"We reported that to the VP. However, I told her that it is very difficult to gather the real data since nobody will admit that he or she is a user or pusher," Aquino pointed out.

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Report from PNA