Why Leni went to United Nations’ antinarcotics body re ‘palit ulo’

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is all set to pursue an impeachment complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo in the House of Representatives. The reason: the lady vice president disclosed to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs “palit ulo” incidents done by policemen in the course of the Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drug crackdown.

Robredo was referring to instances where relatives of suspected drug addicts were the ones hauled to jail by the police upon their failure to find the target suspects during drug raids. She cited accounts of eyewitnesses who had gone to her office for consultation. So, where is the ground to impeach Robredo?

The fact is, Vice President Robredo chose to present her report to the world body and not to a domestic entity because she knew President Duterte is not inclined to tolerate any opposition. She had learned her lesson the hard way: President Duterte himself had prevented her from attending Cabinet meetings even as she was still a Cabinet member simply because she held contrary views to those of the President’s.

She knew that the worldwide organization would be more receptive and sympathetic to the cause of human rights. She was confident that the United Nations would give her position paper a more appropriate response.

NESTY REYES, Molino 2, Bacoor City, Cavite