Philippines vice-president Leni Robredo quit her cabinet post, citing her opposition to issues including Duterte’s move to allow the burial of long-dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the country’s ‘heroes’ cemetery’
Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer and respected political newcomer, tendered her resignation as housing secretary in a letter to the president but will stay on in her elected post as vice-president.
In the Philippines, presidents and vice-presidents are elected separately and have often come from rival political parties, as is the case with Duterte and Robredo.
Leni Robredo is the second key official to resign from Duterte’s administration in less than a week. Maria Serena Diokno quit as head of the government’s historical commission on Tuesday in protest at Duterte’s decision to allow Marcos’s burial in the hallowed cemetery.
Leni 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 in June 2016
The last straw, she said, was when she was notified on Saturday by cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr through a text message about the president’s order for Robredo “to desist from attending all cabinet meetings”, starting on Monday.
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