MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo could do a "much better job" than President Rodrigo Duterte in solving the country's illegal drug crisis, a senator said Monday.

Robredo is capable of leading a "public health approach with harm reduction, rules-based law enforcement and judicial reform" in addressing the drug problem, according to her ally Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Duterte had offered a drug czar post to Robredo, who earlier criticized his war on drugs as "obviously, not working."

• Palace insists offer for Robredo to be drug czar, details terms of plum post

"Kung seryoso man talaga yung offer na yan ni Presidente, VP Leni could do a much better job at addressing problematic drug use than the Pres has shown so far in 3 years," Hontiveros told ANC's Early Edition.

"Siya (Duterte) lang naman nangako ng 6 months diba? So the more time given to VP Leni to address in fact any of our societal problems, I think she’ll do a much better job."

The Vice President had doubted the sincerity of Duterte’s offer, saying if the President's anti-drug campaign was a success, he would not have delegated it.

• Robredo on Duterte's drug czar offer: 'Kung walang failure, bakit ipapasa sa akin?'

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima, another opposition member, said Duterte's offer was just a "silly trap."

• De Lima believes ‘drug czar’ offer to Robredo a ‘trap’ meant to ‘shame’ VP