Filipino people real victims in “political drama”

CEBU, Philippines - Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Elago yesterday said Vice President Leni Robredo's resignation as Housing Urban and Development Coordinating Council head only reflects the growing contradictions among the ranks of the political elite.

And in this “high-level drama,” she said, the Filipino people are the real victims – for instead of having the issues and concerns of the oppressed and the marginalized taking center stage, they are forced to “binge-watch what is appearing to be a long-running political circus.”

“Vice President Robredo’s resignation signals a deepening rift inside the Duterte administration, a rift not motivated by their desire to serve the people but by each camp’s quest for absolute power,” she claimed, tagging the situation as a “primetime political drama.”

"On one hand, you have a president who calls for unity and healing, yet resorts to unceremonious dismissals in an attempt to ease the fractious power relations in his Cabinet. On the other hand, we have a vice president hailing from the former ruling party, who is visibly maneuvering in what is unfolding to be a Liberal Party restoration plan," she said.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Bongbong Coalition and the Cebu Women for Leni have voiced support for Robredo resigning as HUDCC chairperson.

In a joint statement, they said President Rodrigo Duterte's move to bar Robredo from attending Cabinet meetings because of irreconcilable differences speaks loud of his intolerance to dissent.

They said that dissent is what makes democracy alive and without dissent, democracy ceases to be.

They criticized Duterte for wanting to make the Cabinet, the Congress, the Senate and the Supreme Court his “stamping pad”.

Lawyer Susan Echavez, Cebu Women for Leni spokesperson, said they are asking all supporters of Robredo to be vigilant as there is allegedly an orchestrated campaign to steal the vice presidency from her.

Echavez said more than 14 million Filipinos who voted for Robredo will not stand idle on this threat.  (FREEMAN)