PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino on Monday, December 16, denied the claim of Vice President Leni Robredo that he "begged" for her to stay with the Inter-agency Council on Anti-illegal Drugs (Icad).
“Hindi ko po sinabi na huwag niya kaming iwan (I did not ask her not to leave us). It was the Vice President who said that she will stay as long as the President wants her to retain her post as Icad co-chair. Maybe the Vice President only got mixed up by the turn of events,” Aquino said in a statement.
He issued the statement following Robredo’s pronouncement in a radio interview that Aquino had told her during a private meeting, “Ma’am, huwag mo kaming iiwan. Huwag mo kaming iiwan kasi maraming nangyayari noong nandiyan ka na.”
“Kasi ako, iyong sa akin, mahirap pasundin iyong mga ahensya kasi Usec lang ako,” Robredo further recalled what Aquino told her.
(Ma'am, don't leave us because a lot was accomplished while you were with us. Because I am just an undersecretary, I have difficulty getting the agencies to comply with our requests.)
Robredo said she told Aquino she will not leave the Icad unless she will be removed by President Rodrigo Duterte who appointed her to the position.
She added that she found Aquino supportive in private but dismissive when he talks to the media.
“She is entitled to her opinion. Pero siya pa lang ang nagsabi nun sa buong buhay ko,” Aquino said in reaction to Robredo’s comment about him.
Aquino also noted that he accorded Robredo all the respect and courtesy due her.
“If you remember, I was even the one who asked the VP to join in one of our operations during the first Icad meeting with VP last November 8 at her office in Quezon City for her to have a full understanding of what the law enforcers are doing,” he said.
“In fact last December 10, 2019, during the Icad fellowship, I asked all Icad members to make the necessary actions on the recommendations of VP Robredo stipulated in her letter to President Duterte dated November 11, 2019 and report the same to the ICAD on January 2020,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)