Vice president quits cabinet in new Duterte dilemma

Vice president quits cabinet in new Duterte dilemma

Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a news conference following her resignation from her post in President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet, at the Quezon City Reception House, Metro Manila, on Monday. (Reuters photo)
Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo speaks during a news conference following her resignation from her post in President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet, at the Quezon City Reception House, Metro Manila, on Monday. (Reuters photo)

MANILA - The Philippine vice president resigned her Cabinet post on Monday after citing irreconcilable differences with President Rodrigo Duterte, who had banned her from attending cabinet meetings, in a new political dilemma for the leader.

Mrs Robredo, who stepped down as housing secretary but will stay on as vice president, spoke of "major differences in principles and values'' with the brash-talking president and a plot to remove her from the vice presidency. Mr Duterte accepted her resignation "with a heavy heart" and immediately named a replacement.

In her resignation letter, Mrs Robredo told Duterte that she "exerted all effort to put aside our differences, maintain a professional working relationship and work effectively despite the constraints''. But she said Mr Duterte's order banning her from cabinet meetings had made it impossible for her to do her job at the housing agency.

"Remaining in your Cabinet has become untenable,'' she said.

A human rights lawyer and respected political newcomer, Leni Robredo said at a news conference that she would stay on in her elected post as vice president, adding that she would continue her anti-poverty projects.

In the Philippines, presidents and vice presidents are elected separately and often come from rival political parties, like Mr Duterte and Mrs Robredo.

"We will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen because that is against the voice of the majority,'' Mrs Robredo told reporters.

Mrs Robredo suggested that the Duterte administration may be supporting former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, her closest opponent in May's vice presidential election. She did not mention the alleged plot to oust her from the vice presidency in her resignation letter.

Mr Marcos Jr. is the namesake and son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was overthrown by a 1986 "people power" revolt. Mrs Robredo actively joined that uprising.

"We have fought this battle before and won,'' Mrs Robredo said. "We will never let anyone revise our history and twist it to turn evil into good.''

Mrs Robredo's resignation comes amid a political storm over Mr Duterte's decision to allow the burial of the long-dead dictator Marcos in the country's Heroes' Cemetery and a bloody crackdown against illegal drugs that has alarmed Western governments and human rights watchdogs.

Mrs Robredo is the second official to resign from Mr Duterte's administration in less than a week. Maria Serena Diokno quit as head of the government's historical commission last Tuesday to protest Mr Duterte's decision to allow Mr Marcos' Nov 18 burial in the cemetery.

Mrs Robredo has cited her strong opposition to the burial, the drug killings, Mr Duterte's plan to reimpose the death penalty and "sexual attacks against women'' among the issues on which she differed with Mr Duterte, who took office on June 30.

The last straw, she said, was when she was notified Saturday by cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr through a text message about the president's order for Mrs Robredo "to desist from attending all cabinet meetings'' starting Monday.

Mr Evasco said Mr Duterte decided to bar her from Cabinet meetings because of her "irreconcilable differences'' with the Duterte administration.

Mrs Robredo, 52, did not provide details about the alleged plot to remove her from the vice presidency, but her electoral victory has been questioned by Mr Marcos Jr, a friend of Mr Duterte.

Mr Marcos Jr lost by a slim margin to Mrs Robredo, the widow of a popular politician who built a name as an honest, hands-on provincial mayor who wore slippers to work and reached out to the poor in the countryside.

Mrs Robredo's husband died in a plane crash in 2012, and she later acceded to widespread calls for her to enter politics.

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