Vice President Robredo Quits As Housing Chief After Receiving A Message Not To Attend Cabinet Meetings

Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo announced her resignation effective Monday, December 5 as housing secretary, citing differences with the administration.

Robredo, in a statement released Sunday night, December 4, said she will abandon her post as chairperson of the cabinet-level Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

READ: Full Statement Of Vice President Leni Robredo On Her Resignation As Housing Chief

She claimed receiving a text message on Saturday from Secretary to the Cabinet Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr. “relaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s instruction through Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go for me ‘to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings’ beginning Monday.

“This is the last straw, because it makes it impossible for me to perform my duties,” Robredo said in her statement that she opened with the words: “We had hoped this day would not come.”

Cabinet Secretary Evasco confirmed over radio DZMM that the president indeed made the directive for Robredo to no longer attend Cabinet meetings.

“I called her up first but there was no response,” he said.

However, Evasco said the president did not instruct Robredo’s termination.

“Whatever her decision is, it is her prerogative,” he added.

Moreover, before receiving the text message, Robredo enumerated the three “obstacles thrown in our way” even as she boasted HUDCC’s “solid accomplishments” within barely five months:

“The budget for all key shelter agencies in 2017 has been slashed by more than P19 billion.”

“All our key shelter agency appointment recommendations have not been acted on.”

“The Executive Order designed to make HUDCC effective was not signed.”

Furthermore, Robredo also cited the “major differences in principles and values” between her and President Duterte as a factor for leaving her post, referring to the policies being pushed by the administration and the seemingly vicious attacks against women.

“Since I assumed office, I have been consistent in my opposition to issues such as the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, extra-judicial killings, reinstating death penalty, lowering the age of criminal liability, and sexual attacks against women,” the Vice President said.

Even with their polarity in political convictions, Robredo said she took the job of housing secretary because she and the president “both had a mandate to serve the people,” adding that she “had hoped that this shared commitment to the poor and marginalized would transcend the differences between us.”

Evasco, in the same DZMM interview, confirmed there are “irreconcilable differences” between the two leaders that even the public knows.

While Robredo said she will continue to “oppose those that are inimical to the people’s interest,” she will still support “the positive initiatives of this administration” despite her departure from the Cabinet.

Source: Manila Bulletin