Cabinet ban last straw for Philippine vice president
Print Edition
THE vice president of the Philippines said yesterday that she will resign her Cabinet post, citing “major differences in principles and values” with President Rodrigo Duterte and an unspecified plot to remove her from the vice presidency.
Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer, said she will tender her resignation today as housing secretary, an appointment made by Duterte, but will stay on in her elected post.
In the Philippines, presidents and vice presidents are separately elected and have often come from rival political parties, like Duterte and Robredo.
“I will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen. I will not allow the will of the people to be thwarted,” Robredo said. “I will continue to serve the Filipino family and fulfill their dream for a better life.”
Her resignation comes amid a political storm Duterte has faced over his decision to allow the burial of long-dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery and a government crackdown against illegal drugs.
Robredo is the second key official to resign from Duterte’s administration in less than a week. Maria Serena Diokno resigned as head of the government’s historical commission last Tuesday in protest at Duterte’s decision to allow Marcos’ burial in the hallowed cemetery.
Diokno has since joined street protests by anti-Marcos groups condemning the November 18 burial, which was secretly carried out while left-wing petitioners were preparing to appeal a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the president’s decision to authorize the entombment.
Robredo cited her opposition to the burial, the drug killings, Duterte’s plan to reimpose the death penalty and “sexual attacks against women” among the issues on which she differed with Duterte, who took office on June 30.
The last straw, she said, was when she was notified on Saturday by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr via a cellphone message about the president’s order for Robredo “to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings” from today. She said he decided to bar her from Cabinet meetings because of her irreconcilable differences with the Duterte administration.
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