Robredo’s ICAD needs budget support — lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — For Vice President Leni Robredo to succeed in her new job as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), President Duterte and offices under ICAD should make sure she would have sufficient funds, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday.

Lagman, a member of the opposition Liberal Party led by Robredo, said the Vice President would not succeed in her new role as co-steward of the anti-illegal drugs campaign without sufficient funds.

“The multimillion-peso funds appropriated to sustain the bloody war on illegal drugs and related intelligence outlays embedded in the proposed 2020 appropriations for the Philippine National Police (PNP) should be specifically reallocated to ICAD to support Robredo’s non-violent and innovative approaches to solve the drug menace,” he said.

He said even President Duterte’s “huge intelligence and confidential funds amounting to P4.5 billion, which purportedly include covert operations on the violent drug war, should also be reduced to augment the funds of the ICAD.”

Lagman, former chairman of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee, pointed out that there is no specific appropriation in the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for next year for the inter-agency committee co-chaired by Robredo and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino.

However, he said a “measly amount of P15 million” for the panel is supposedly included in PDEA’s miscellaneous and other operating expenses.

Before Robredo accepted the President’s offer for her to jointly lead the anti-drug war with Aquino, Lagman expressed misgivings about her acceptance of ICAD’s co-chairmanship.

“A co-chair of ICAD is vastly different from an anti-drug czar previously ‘offered’ by President Duterte to Vice President Leni Robredo. The diluted position validates the fear that the Vice President is being set up to fail,” he said.

He said no less than PDEA chief Aquino “ominously predicted that Robredo would fail.”

“The Vice President is being thrown into a composite of an inter-agency committee with no fewer than 20 agencies as members pursuant to Executive Order No. 15 which created the ICAD on March 6, 2017. As co-chair of ICAD, the Vice President, before she could act, will have to contend with the chair and the multiple membership of ICAD,” he said.

Other Robredo allies disputed presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo’s claim that her appointment signaled her return to the Cabinet.

They said being co-chairperson of the inter-agency committee is not a Cabinet-rank position.