MISSING CONTEXT: Robredo to cancel or alter Duterte projects if she wins in 2022

At a glance

• Claim: Based on her pronouncements, Vice President Leni Robredo will cancel or alter all projects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, such as the Build, Build, Build program and the drug war, if she is elected president in 2022.
• Rating: MISSING CONTEXT
• The facts: Robredo has said that she will continue Duterte’s projects like the campaign against drugs and the Build, Build, Build program, with differences in methods. She said if she wins the presidency in 2022, she will carry on with the administration’s infrastructure program but it will have to directly impact the lives of marginalized people. She also said she will continue the current administration’s war on drugs but it will focus on rehabilitation and prevention, not ‘kill, kill, kill.’
• Why we fact-checked this: The post with this claim has acquired 1,300 likes, 108 comments, and 287 shares as of writing.

Complete details

A Facebook post made by Undersecretary and Philippine Information Agency Director-General Ramon “Mon” Cualoping III on November 19 said that based on her pronouncements, if Vice President Leni Robredo wins as president in the 2022 election, all the projects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration will be canceled or altered.

He also said, “Who in the right mind would stop #BuildBuildBuild? Why stop the drug war? Mahirap pag ganito. Walang continuity. (That would be difficult. There’s no continuity.) The people suffer.”

The post has acquired 1,300 likes, 108 comments, and 287 shares as of writing.

This post is missing context.

During a press conference in Sorsogon on October 29, 2021, Robredo was asked if she will implement the same intensified campaign against illegal drugs, citing the deaths that occurred under the Duterte administration.

Robredo clarified that she would continue the campaign but in a different approach, namely, one that focuses on rehabilitation and prevention, not “kill, kill, kill.” (READ: Robredo’s anti-drug plan: Heavy on prevention, rehab not ‘kill, kill, kill’)

She said, “Ganon katindi, pero sa ibang paraan. Binigyan ako ng 18 days as co-chair of ICAD. At ’yung 18 days na ’yun nagkaroon ako ng pagkakataon makita up close, up close kung ano talaga ’yung problema… ’yung drug war kinonduct natin parang lahat lang siya heavy on enforcement, hindi ako doon naniniwala.”

(That intense, but in a different method. I was given 18 days as ICAD co-chair, and I got the opportunity to see up close what the problem really was… the drug war was conducted mostly through heavy enforcement, and I don’t believe in that.)

“So sa akin ang paniniwala ko ’pag DDB (Dangerous Drugs Board) ’yung umupo na chair ang plano niya hindi lang patay, patay, patay. Ang plano niya talagang very comprehensive, heavy on prevention, heavy on rehabilitation,” she added.

(For me, I believe that if the Dangerous Drugs Board would sit as chair, their plan would not be kill, kill, kill. Their plan would be very comprehensive, heavy on prevention, heavy on rehabilitation.) 

She was also asked about her priority programs that Filipinos would be able to experience within 100 days. She said she will prioritize and continue the infrastructure program but with a direct impact on marginalized communities.

“[Ipagpapatuloy] natin yung Build, Build, Build, pero sisiguruhin natin, sisiguraduhin natin ’yung pupuntahan ng pera para sa infrastructure, mayroon itong direct impact, mayroon siyang direct impact sa pag-angat nung mga nasa laylayan.” Robredo says. (We will continue Build, Build Build, but we will make sure that the money that is going to infrastructure, it will have a direct impact in uplifting the marginalized.)

No official statement was made by Robredo saying she will not continue all the projects of the Duterte administration, specifically the war on drugs and Build, Build, Build program.

Recently, Robredo said that if elected president, she would move to abolish the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). She later said she was all for the mandate and the functions of the task force, and that its Barangay Development Fund was “the best part of everything.” 

Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez clarified that while she still wants the task force abolished, “NTF abolition does not mean an abandonment of the local development programs or the whole-of-nation approach.” –​​ Aldrin John Bernales/Rappler.com

Aldrin John Bernales is a Rappler Mover. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor.

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