Robredo to convene ICAD’s law enforcement cluster this week

Vice President Leni Robredo is set to convene on Thursday the Law Enforcement Cluster of the government’s task force against illegal drugs, which she cochairs, her chief of staff said.

Office of the Vice President (OVP) Undersecretary Philip Dy said that Robredo will meet with law enforcement agencies to discuss concerns on the conduct of anti-drug operations.

Robredo co-heads the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) after she accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer to lead the ongoing campaign against illegal drugs.

She is the ICAD co-chair alongside Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino.

“The Vice President will meet one by one all the clusters under ICAD, and she would start with the Law Enforcement Cluster. It would be the main meeting for this week after the all-cluster meeting of ICAD on Friday,” Dy said in Filipino.

ICAD’s Enforcement Cluster is mandated to conduct anti-illegal operations and investigations against drug personalities with the support of other law enforcement agencies through PDEA and the National Anti-Drug Task Force.

The other ICAD clusters are Justice, Advocacy, and Rehabilitation and Reintegration apart from the Enforcement Cluster.

After her last week’s first ICAD meeting, Robredo said she “will be having small group meetings with either the clusters or the different agencies.”

The Vice President then said she will raise her plan to replace “Oplan Tokhang,” including the use body cameras to protect lives and ensure the “integrity” of drug operations.

Oplan Tokhang is a police operation involving knocking on doors of the houses of suspected drug dealers and users, and asking them to surrender.

During their meeting, Dy said Robredo would take the opportunity to raise the proposals by various groups she consulted to help improve the anti-illegal drugs campaign.

On Monday, the newly designated drug czar met with the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) to discuss “best practices” of other Southeast Asian countries in addressing the issue of illegal drugs.

Robredo also had discussions with the core members of the Community-Based Drug Rehab Alliance, a network of faith-based and non-government organizations, academe, civil society groups, and local government units that work towards “people-centered, human, and evidence-based” solutions to the drug problem.

The Vice President is pushing for the collaboration between government agencies and the private sector so antidrug campaign would be more effective.

“The special focus of the meeting was on the experiences of our neighboring countries here in Southeast Asia—what are their learnings from implementing these programs, what are their best practices, and what are the gaps that need to be addressed to improve the program being implemented,” Dy said.