Vice President Robredo barely warmed her seat before President Duterte fired her as co-chairperson of the Interagency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs. Was his offer of involving her in finding solutions to the situation of drugs in the Philippines ever really serious? He didn’t even give Robredo the chance to show what she could do to make the campaign against drugs effective and, most important, non-violent and rights-respecting. By firing her on such ludicrous grounds, Duterte reveals he was never even remotely sincere and exposes his game to appoint her as a total sham. Robredo does a great service to the Filipino people and her country by continuing her strong criticism of the rights-abusing “drug war” and demanding accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes against human rights.

Carlos Conde
Asia researcher
Human Rights Watch
@condeHRW

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