Vice President Leni Robredo. FILE PHOTO
MANILA 鈥� Vice President Leni Robredo was eased out of the Cabinet because President Duterte and his allies did not want to give the highest-ranking member of the Liberal Party (LP) access to the administration鈥檚 鈥渟ecret plans.鈥�
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, an opposition leader and Robredo鈥檚 fellow LP member, surmised that that was the true motive for the move to push the Vice President into quitting her post as housing secretary after she was told by text message to stop attending Cabinet meetings.
Robredo is the interim chair of the LP, the ruling party during the previous Aquino administration, at least until it elects new officers next year. She has been pressed to lead the opposition now that she is out of the President鈥檚 Cabinet.
鈥淚 think the Vice President was eased out from Cabinet to bar her from access to plans in the Cabinet and national security meetings,鈥� Lagman told a press briefing at the House of Representatives.
He said there were clandestine or secret plans 鈥渨hich should not be known to her as an LP member, which is considered to be not closely allied with the administration despite the fact it鈥檚 part of the supermajority.鈥�
The congressman did not give the basis for his speculation, except to say: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 clandestine. I also do not know.鈥�
Lagman, however, agreed that the declaration of Martial Law could be one of those clandestine plans.
鈥淟ike what has been said, [this administration] is 鈥榰rong sulong, urong sulong (step forward, step backward).鈥� Before you know it, it鈥檚 there,鈥� he said.
Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza said Mr. Duterte might also have wanted to make an example of Robredo to warn other members of his Cabinet.
鈥淵ou will recall just recently that former President [Fidel V.] Ramos commented that the Cabinet is divided. One probable reason the President instigated [Robredo鈥檚 resignation]鈥� was to warn other members of his Cabinet to toe the line,鈥� he said.
鈥淸He might have wanted to show that] if he could do it to the Vice President, he could do it to other members of Cabinet,鈥� Daza said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a veiled warning; it鈥檚 a naked warning,鈥� he said.
Robredo was one of the few Cabinet members who were vocal in expressing their opposition to some of Mr. Duterte鈥檚 decisions and policies, including his assent to the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said Robredo鈥檚 split with the Duterte administration 鈥渟hows how decision-making is happening in Cabinet.鈥�
鈥淚t seems there are no democratic values. Like they say, she was pushed because of her views, political or social issues. The President does not want independent thinkers in the Cabinet,鈥� he said.
But he said the main reason was 鈥減robably political,鈥� calling it a 鈥渟egue way to what the Vice President described as a plot to steal the vice presidency.鈥� Defeated vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has a pending electoral protest against Robredo.
On a supposed plot by the LP to oust Mr. Duterte, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just paranoia.鈥�
鈥淲hile we disagree with President Digong, we are not here to oust him. We are in the same boat鈥� I don鈥檛 see why the President should lose trust in Vice President Leni. She is only standing firm on the basic principles she always held dear with her other half,鈥� he said.
Lagman said the President鈥檚 treatment of Robredo was an act of 鈥渃onsummate imprudence.鈥�
鈥淭he unceremonious manner by which Robredo was eased out from the Cabinet smacks of inordinate partisanship, gross impropriety and absence of requisite politesse,鈥� he said.
Lagman noted that the Vice President was the only incumbent elected member of the President鈥檚 official family, 鈥渨hile the rest may even be unelectable.鈥�
鈥淯nlike the other members of the Cabinet, the Vice President is the first in line in the succession for President,鈥� he said.
Lagman added: 鈥淎s a Cabinet member, the Vice President could not be considered merely as an alter ego of the President because he or she has a distinct and separate popular and constitutional mandate.鈥� 聽SFM/rga
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