By Martin Petty
MANILA, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The last time aides of Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte sent a text message to his vice
president, it was to tell her to stay away from his cabinet
meetings.
But after three years in the cold, Leni Robredo is being
welcomed back to Duterte's cabinet as his "tsar" in a war on
drugs in which thousands of people have been killed. Robredo, a
54-year-old who was elected separately to Duterte, has called
the campaign ineffective and out of control.
"We don't even know the numbers anymore. We do not know how
many died because of the drugs war because government has not
been transparent," she said in an interview with Reuters last
month.
Robredo's allies see the job offer - to co-chair an
inter-government panel on drugs along with the head of the
anti-drugs agency - as a poisoned chalice. They say she is being
set up to fail, a play to humiliate one of Duterte's few
remaining rivals to challenge his popular autocracy ahead of
2022 elections.
Robredo has however accepted the job, possibly setting her
on a collision course with the president.
"They are asking me if I am ready for this job. My question
is: Are you ready for me?" Robredo said.
In the Oct 23 interview, she said abusive police should be
stopped, and the United Nations be allowed to conduct its
investigation into allegations of systematic executions and
cover-ups by police.
The Duterte administration rejects that as foreign
interference based on lies and distortion, and backs the police.
OPPOSITION HARASSMENT
Robredo is facing possible sedition charges alongside 35
other opponents of Duterte, among them lawyers, priests,
lawmakers and a former attorney general, which some officials
say could result in a second impeachment attempt against her.
Duterte has publicly threatened activists, a U.N. special
rapporteur, a U.N. human rights chief, and an international war
crimes prosecutor, and called the Philippines' top human rights
official a paedophile.
Other targets include a senator who has been in police
detention since 2017 on drugs charges after her Senate
investigation into drug war killings. Another senator was
charged with kidnapping, and a Supreme Court Chief Justice who
opposed some of Duterte's policies was removed.
According to Antonio Tinio, a unionist and former
congressman, Robredo's appointment is part of moves to discredit
those who could complicate the succession of Duterte, who is
restricted to only one six-year term.
"Duterte is very aware that if someone from outside of his
camp is elected president it's very likely he will end up in
jail. It's about self-preservation," said Tinio, who was last
year charged with child abuse after the president's daughter
posted pictures on Instagram of minors attending his political
rally.
"As vice president, she has the stature, she's respected by
the international community and that's why Duterte at the moment
is paying attention to what she says."
Robredo told Reuters she was yet to decide whether she would
run in 2022 for the presidency, a contest typically won on
personality rather than party or policy.
A former human rights lawyer, she was thrust into politics
after her husband, then interior secretary Jesse Robredo, was
killed in a 2012 plane crash. She has three daughters.
By challenging the hugely popular Duterte, Robredo has had a
rough ride, subjected to what she says is an organised campaign
of online trolling and fabricated news stories that she said
originates from influencers linked to government.
TROLLS AND FAKE NEWS
The worst, she said, were abuses and sexual harassment of
her and her daughters.
"In the age of fake news, in the age of trolls, it is
difficult to be a woman politician, especially like me who
doesn't have a husband," Robredo said.
"Somebody like me is an open target. I am very vulnerable."
Robredo likened the crackdown on dissent to the martial law
era of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, demonstrating a slide
towards authoritarianism, and a climate of fear.
"We see a very strong, very popular leader who is trying to
take advantage of the popularity by trying to stifle the
opposition, and trying to weaken the institutions," she said.
She added: "There are very, very few of us that are speaking
out".
During the interview, Robredo said Duterte's bellicose
rhetoric was encouraging police abuses in a drugs war that had
spiralled out of control.
It is unclear whether Robredo will have any power to change
that. Presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo, sidestepped
questions about her remit, but on Thursday said Duterte was
sincere in his support for her.
"People say this will make or break you," he said. "Prove us
wrong in that you can hack it. This is your time."
Nicole Curato, an associate professor at the University of
Canberra said Robredo had a track record of engaging the right
people to find solutions.
"Whether these proposals will carry weight is another story,
but at least alternative approaches to the bloody drug war are
put on the table," she said.
(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)