Daily Tribune (Philippines)

Failed plot again

- Ninez Cacho-Olivares

Trust the opposition to turn utter political failure into what they believe is a political success, although no matter how often they try to do this, they always fail.

The opposition’s latest try is to portray the obviously failed attempt of Vice President-for-now,

Leni Robredo, to make a success of her short stint as the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) co-chairman, despite the fact that no such title exists.

Liberal Party (LP) president Francis Pangilinan, who probably is eyeing the vice presidency in 2022, called the presidenti­al move a scheme intended to undermine Robredo and one that had backfired as the Duterte administra­tion “became entangled in its own trap,” after the President fired her, after some 19 days getting involved in the anti-drug war.

Pangilinan, in a statement, said, “The appointmen­t and the eventual firing of VP Leni as anti-drug co-chair prove what we have been saying all along: both the war on drugs and the appointmen­t of the

Vice President as ICAD co-chair are bluff and bluster.” He added that the administra­tion’s scheme to make Robredo look weak backfired, noting that many admired Robredo’s acceptance of the post.

That is obviously an exaggerati­on, as the opposition and its supporters are clearly not that many by way of numbers, either as support for opposition politician­s or yellow supporters, or even the usual masa. This was clearly proved during the 2019 senatorial elections when not one yellow senatorial bet made it to the winning circle, or even get near it.

Still, the Pangilinan claim was that Leni’s brief stint proved that the solution to the drug problem is not the killing of poor drug users, while drug lords, “ninja cops” and their protectors are released and promoted. He also stressed that in just three weeks, Leni succeeded in redirectin­g the anti-drug war track from a criminal justice issue to a public health problem.

Such a clear lie can only bring about wild guffaws from the public, considerin­g the fact that during Leni’s brief stint at ICAD, she not only presented any anti-drug plan, short-term or long-term, but that she also failed utterly in “redirectin­g the anti-drug war into a public health program. But Leni never even hit first base in getting rehab facilities, new or old, going.

Still, such empty claims being made by the political opposition are expected, by way of its emptiness, since there is nothing by way of real, concrete and proven successes made by the opposition members supposedly led by its highest elected official, Leni. No matter how it’s cut, the proven truth is that Leni has never shown any success at what she has accomplish­ed, certainly not as a one-time member of the House of Representa­tives and even as the claimed vice president of the Republic and, yes, not as a Cabinet member in the Duterte regime, mainly because she seemed to believe that opposing the President would bring him down while she would easily rise as the president.

Truth is, Leni never knew her place and used her appointed positions, and the opposition members’ bid to get Duterte to resign, or for him to be ousted and charged criminally and for her to automatica­lly take his place as president, since they all know that election-wise, Leni or any opposition member, for that matter, has no chance of winning the presidency. Even her election victory is highly in doubt.

But they are still trying their all to destroy Duterte, not surprising­ly by claiming falsely that he fired Leni as he feared that the Vice President’s support would increase, and that by firing Leni, Duterte blinked and lost. Sen. Risa Hontiveros added that Robredo’s removal was hardly surprising, as the Duterte administra­tion “got entangled and became a victim of its own trap.”

Hontiveros and her opposition colleagues certainly know the reason Robredo was fired, as she was using her appointed position to “dig dirt” on Duterte through the drug war informatio­n, and make the most of her former position as “co-chair” of ICAD to get the United Nations special rapporteur­s to come to the country and investigat­e Duterte on the alleged extrajudic­ial killings due to the drug war.

Leni has already threatened to “spill the beans” on the Duterte drug war that she claimed was being hidden from her and the public, as if such threats would cause Duterte’s downfall. What she will weave are lies, obviously, since she never got anything by way of informatio­n on the drug war, other than the official figures.

Nothing by way of Leni’s and her yellow LP group’s claims will be perceived as credible, since they have lost all credibilit­y, as well as their dwindling political support with the general public, especially as they, then under the regime of Noynoy Aquino, did nothing by way of stopping drug lords from their illegal drug trade.

Give it up, Leni and yellows. You lost and, in the process, screwed up your electoral chances in 2023 again.

“Nothing by way of Leni’s and her yellow LP group’s claims will be perceived as credible, since they have lost all credibilit­y, as well as their dwindling political support with the general public.

“Such

a clear lie can only bring about wild guffaws from the public, considerin­g the fact that during Leni’s brief stint at ICAD, she not only presented any anti-drug plan, short-term or long-term, but that she also failed utterly.

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