(Eagle News) — Vice-President Leni Robredo criticized the Philippine government’s campaign against illegal drugs in a six minute video, in an effort to bring to the attention of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting in Vienna the claims by the opposition that the anti-drug war of President Rodrigo Duterte was not good for the country.
But her video was not presented to the main UN session in Vienna, but only on its fringes — on a maiden side session organized by a Washington-based non-government organization that is opposed to drug wars in general.
Robredo’s six-minute video recording was for the “Human Rights Challenge: Responding to Extrajudicial Killings in the Drug War,” which is a side session organized by the DRCNet Foundation for the 60th annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
The presentation was done on Thursday, March 16, the same day that an impeachment complaint was filed before the House of Representatives against Duterte by a lawmaker representing former military mutineers
Washington-based group plays Robredo video in UN side session
DRCNet Foundation is a Washington-based non-government organization founded in 1993 to “stop the chaos and violence of the illegal drug trade” by David Borden, an astrophysicist and jazz compositor who also worked as a high school and college instructor.
“This Thursday we are presenting ‘Human Rights Challenge: Responding to Extrajudicial Killings in the Drug War,’ side session at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting (CND), Vienna International Centre,” the NGO announced in its website, http://stopthedrugwar.org
“The session is our first since being recognized as an accredited NGO by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) last year,” wrote David Borden, the founder of Drug Reform Coordination Network .
Borden said that “country and agency delegates to the CND or UN in Vienna, as well as UN-accredited NGOs and media, are able to attend the session” where they presented the video of Philippine Vice-President Robredo.
“Vice President Leni Robredo of the Republic of the Philippines has honored us with a video to be presented there. The video and event were covered by TIME this morning,” announced their website, http://stopthedrugwar.org.
Robredo’s video message which acknowledged Borden, among others, was also posted in their website, particularly in their event flyer, which promoted the event.
Reacting to Robredo’s video, Malacanang said the Vice-President’s allegations were unfounded and came from “questionable sources.”
“While she (Robredo) has the right to speak freely on matters of public concern, she also has the responsibility to be careful with her statements especially avoiding unfounded allegations from questionable sources,” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
Chief Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo said Robredo’s online video was “misleading” and consists of “bare assertions that are not based on evidence.”
“I think the vice president, I’m sorry to say, has been misled, has been misinformed, and has been misguided on the information she has received,” Panelo said in an interview.
Robredo video played on same day as impeachment filing vs Duterte
On Thursday, the Palace also questioned the timing of the Vice-President’s video message.
Presidential Spokesperson Abella also said the events, including Robredo’s video message to the UN side event, and the filing of the impeachment complaint by the Magdalo representative were “too well coordinated to be a coincidence.”
“Let’s put it this way. Events like these just seem to be to well coordinated to be coincidental,” Abella said.
“Wala po akong sinasabi na hindi siya kasama,” Abella said when asked if he believes that the Vice-President Robredo was part of the destabilization plot.
“Mukhang may mga kaganapan na sabay-sabay na nangyayari pero mukhang napakalinis ng mga kaganapan,” he added.
When asked what the President’s reaction was to Robredo’s video, Abella said he had not yet asked the President about it.
The President was in Davao City at the baptism of his youngest grandson, Marko Digong Duterte Carpio, who was also nicknamed “Stonefish.”
Abella said the impeachment complaint as well as Roberdo’s video, was not really a “cause for concern.”
“Nakikita lang, napapansin. Marami talagang ingay na nangyayari sa gilid,” he noted
But he said that while there were be noises being created in the “outside circles,” President Duterte would continue in his work of nation building.
“Tuluy-tuloy lang ang presidente sa kanyang paggawa,” Abella said.
He also advised that “Flipinos should just start strengthening their backbone and just start doing their part and carry the weight of nation-building.”
Abella tells those who want Duterte out – “Grow up.”
“I think it will all help us if we should just bear the brunt together, I think we should just grow up,” he said in reaction to the impeachment complaint and Robredo’s video message which is again critical of the President.
Both events that happened on Thursday were seen as part of moves to discredit President Duterte and oust him from office eight months into his presidency.
In her video, Robredo said: “We are heartened that the issue of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines today is being discussed in an event such as this. To know that the international community’s eyes are on us and to feel that human rights advocates are watching over our country gives us comfort, courage and hope,” she said.
“We are now looking at some very grim statistics: since July last year, more than 7,000 people have been killed in summary executions,” Robredo said.
The Philippine National Police, however, disputed Robredo’s statements.
Based on records of the PNP, there are only 2,555 drug suspects killed in legitimate police operations, while the 5,136 killings of various nature are suspected to have been done by vigilantes, among others.
National police spokesman Dionardo Carlos on Wednesday also rejected Robredo’s assertions, saying they did not reflect “the general situation”.
He also denied that police were carrying out the “exchange heads” scheme.
“This is not the norm . This is not the practice,” Carlos told reporters.
Robredo in her video message also claimed that the people cannot walk on the streets safely anymore.
She claimed that the government’s drug war had left Filipinos feeling “hopeless and helpless,” saying that trust in the police have eroded because of summary executions.
The PNP, however, claimed otherwise, saying that more Filipinos felt safe in the streets after drug addicts roaming the streets became fewer.
A previous survey by Social Weather Stations also showed that an overwhelming number of Filipinos remain highly satisfied with the administration’s campaign against drugs.
The survey released in December last year said that Filipinos reported they were 85 percent satisfied with the ongoing operations to curb drugs– which is a percentage point up from survey results in September.
Filipinos also agreed that since President Rodrigo Duterte took office, the incidence of drug problems in their areas had decreased.