Vice President Leni Robredo doubts the sincerity of the Rodrigo Duterte administration to solve the drug and corruption problems of the country.

In an interview with veteran journalist Malou Mangahas on GMA-7’s The Mangahas Interviews, Robredo was asked how she would assess the Duterte administration’s performance so far, especially now that there are only 15 months left in the term.

“Parang hindi sila seryoso kasi apparent naman iyong pagkukulang eh. Apparent iyong pagkukulang pero – iyong solusyon hindi madali pero doable, pero parang ayaw gawin,”  Robredo said in the show aired on Friday, March 5.

(They don’t seem serious because the deficiency is apparent, but they don’t seem to want to do the solutions. The solutions are not easy, but they are doable.)

Robredo recalled her brief stint as co-chair in Duterte’s Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) and used it as an example to illustrate how the Duterte administration seems to be reluctant to implement reforms.

Duterte fired Robredo from the ICAD after just 18 days on the job. Robredo then publicized her findings and her recommendations to improve the government’s anti-narcotics campaign, from scrapping the controversial Oplan Tokhang to giving more powers to the Anti-Money Laundering Council to directly go after drug lords who launder money.

“After ako nag-ICAD, iyon iyong question parati sa isip ko, na bakit parang mayroon akong impression na hindi seryoso na ayusin talaga iyong drug problem in the Philippines? Kasi kaya eh—kaya siyang ayusin. Mahirap pero kaya, kung may willingness lang na ayusin iyong programa. Pero hindi ko iyon nakikita,” Robredo said.

(After I left ICAD, the question that was always on my mind was: why do I have the impression that they are not really serious about fixing the drug problem in the Philippines? Because we can fix it. It’s difficult but doable if there is willingness. But I don’t see that.”)

Robredo also pointed out the corruption issues in the country, and how there were several instances where Duterte removed controversial officials from office but later reinstated them to a different one.

“A huge part of an anti-corruption drive is accountability. Pero nakikita naman natin na maraming mga implicated na sa corruption na tatanggalin pero ililipat sa ibang posisyon…. Parang ano iyong point? Hindi seryoso,” Robredo said.

(But we see that there have been officials implicated in corruption issues who were transferred to other government positions. What’s the point? They’re not serious.)

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15 months remaining

With 15 months remaining until the end of Duterte’s term, Robredo said the biggest problem that needs to be addressed is still the pandemic.

“Ano man iyong desire natin na gumanda iyong ating ekonomiya, gumanda iyong ating tourism, wala iyon lahat kung hindi natin maaasikaso itong pandemic,” Robredo said.

(Whatever desire we have to improve the economy, to improve our tourism, that would be nothing if we can’t manage this pandemic.)

Robredo acknowledged the government’s efforts to conduct testing and vaccination drives, but she said rehabilitation should also be part of the response. She mentioned the millions of Filipinos left jobless due to the COVID-19 crisis and said the government should create pandemic efforts that will benefit all of its citizens.

“I think until election time, ito pa rin iyong problema natin, so dapat ito iyong focus talaga ng lahat ng efforts (the pandemic would still be our problem, so this should still be the focus of all the efforts),” Robredo said. – Rappler.com