Leni leaves Cabinet

Robredo bares plot to ‘steal’ vice presidency

MANILA, Philippines – The rapprochement lasted only five months.

Told by Malacañang to stop attending Cabinet meetings, Vice President Leni Robredo last night declared she would quit her post as President Duterte’s housing chief effective today.

In a statement yesterday, the Vice President said she had been warned about a plot to “steal” her mandate. She is expected to address the nation this afternoon.

Robredo said she decided to quit after receiving a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. on Saturday, telling her to stop attending Cabinet meetings.

Photo shows a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. to Robredo, which prompted her resignation.

Malacañang said the order did not mean she had been fired from the Cabinet.

“We received a text message last Saturday from Secretary Evasco, relaying the President’s instruction through (Presidential Management Staff head Christopher) Bong Go for me to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings starting this Monday, Dec. 5,” she said in a statement.

“This is the last straw, because it makes it impossible for me to perform my duties,” she said.

Robredo said she chose to ignore warnings about plans to unseat her as Vice President so she could focus on her job as chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

“We had hoped this day would not come. I had been warned of a plot to steal the vice presidency. I have chosen to ignore this and focus on the job at hand. But the events of the recent days indicate that this plot is now being set into motion,” she said.

Robredo is facing an election protest before the Supreme Court filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom she defeated by a slim margin of more than 200,000 votes.

“As your duly elected Vice President, I will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen. I will not allow the will of the people to be thwarted. I will continue to serve the Filipino family and fulfill their dream for a better life,” Robredo said.

Duterte had initially said he did not intend to give Robredo any post in his Cabinet. But after their first meeting, he changed his mind and gave her the same post held by Jejomar Binay when he was vice president.

In his visit to China last October, Duterte had introduced Marcos as the new vice president if he won his case against Robredo.

Marcos and elder sister Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos joined Duterte in the visit to China.

Earlier, the camp of Robredo expressed alarm over the reported plan to recount the votes in last May’s vice presidential race without the “direction” of the Supreme Court sitting as Presidential Election Tribunal.

Robredo did not give details of the supposed plot to snatch the vice presidency from her, but she mentioned “obstacles” that made her job as housing chief difficult.

Robredo noted that in barely five months since she took over the helm at the HUDCC, the housing agencies had made “solid” accomplishments even as she thought Duterte would support her despite their differences on issues related to housing.

She complained the budgets for shelter agencies for 2017 have been slashed by more than P19 billion.

Robredo said all her recommended appointments for key shelter agencies have not been acted on by Malacañang.

She also said an executive order designed to make the HUDCC effective was not signed.

Mentioning her policy differences with Duterte, Robredo said she took the job as housing secretary as she hoped that “this shared commitment to the poor and marginalized would transcend the differences between us.”

Robredo has been critical of the administration, particularly on the issues of extrajudicial killings and the burial of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“We both had a mandate to serve the people,” the Vice President said.

Last month, Robredo slammed Duterte after he joked about her legs and smooth knees.

“Tasteless remarks and inappropriate advances against women should have no place in our society. We should expect that most of all from our leaders,” she said.

Robredo, however, vowed to continue supporting the “positive initiatives” of the administration even after resigning from Duterte’s cabinet.

“With this resignation, you can expect that I will continue to support the positive initiatives of this administration and oppose those that are inimical to the people’s interest,” she said. – With Edith Regalado