It ended at the start

By: Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The title is a phrase from the late Nat King Cole’s song, “Fascination.” It is appropriate to describe the accommodation given by President Rodrigo Duterte to Vice President Leni Robredo after the latter called the President’s anti-illegal drug campaign a failure. Not that the President is fascinated with the idea but as I wrote earlier, to give her a chance to prove her worth or incapacity to perform this extremely difficult and tricky job.

There is no love lost between the two top officials of the Philippines, but the President gave her a job probably to keep her quiet or worse, to fail and show she is incompetent to lead this nation. That would undermine her qualifications for the run in 2022.

The two are, from ideological and political points of view, diametrically opposite. One cannot yield to the other without losing their stature.

From the beginning of her appointment, Robredo already showed she was drifting from the path of the President. The core of the President’s anti-illegal drug campaign is “kill them all” as he directed in a special way for Bacolod. Robredo insists on “zero killing.”

Initially the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency gave her leeway, but when she wanted to take part in actual field operations, the PDEA and the Philippine National Police balked. It would expose them if Robredo were present.

Robredo’s position is melodramatic. It is foolhardy for her to join in a possible shoot out. Presidents and top military officials don’t go out in field operations of a squad or a platoon. There is practical sense in this system, but it will be long to discuss what this means. Simply, the principle is that when one is involved directly his or her perspective for a neutral and overall assessment is affected.

Consider for instance a field operation. If Robredo were there, how many security personnel would be needed? They will not be after the culprits but to protect her. Her desire to participate in actual operations exposed her naivety in this matter.

It is good political propaganda but bad tactics.

Robredo made another mistake when she publicly announced she was going to meet with US Intelligence community. That riled the President because she declared her intention without informing the President on a sensitive issue. The attitude of the President towards the United States is well known and to tell the world she was going to meet America’s spies was off the mark.

Of course, the US is an ally and in the thick of an anti-illegal drugs campaign. However, exchanging intelligence information with another country has international and diplomatic implications. She should have informed and asked for clearance from the President. She did not and got the President piqued, to say the least.  I think she also did not clear with the Philippine intelligence community who would have asked permission from the President.

The media got the information first. This is a matter one does not publicize. I wonder who her advisers are to put her into this mess.

Probably realizing her mistake, she started to give an excuse she will not be sharing intelligence information. If that were so, what was there to talk about that cannot be supplied by the normal intelligence sharing channels used by the two countries?

We can give the Vice President some latitude for taking initiatives in what she believed was part of her function. Unfortunately, she failed to keep in mind that she was a presidential appointee and must decide on matters with clearance from the President. Her faux pas had reached a point that she was told she cannot attend cabinet meetings unless invited because she is not a member of the cabinet.

Worse, Malacañang issued a statement that the President does not trust her. We know this from the beginning, but she was given a chance and botched it. To be told she cannot be trusted is an insult and makes her position in the anti-illegal drug campaign untenable.

Thus, she cannot even see the list of the leading drug lords in the country, a matter of importance if she was to help. But she was denied this basic information simply because she cannot be trusted.

Malacañang can trust even the cook but not the Vice President. What more insults is she is waiting for and vamoose?