Philippines Vice President resigns from cabinet over President Rodrigo Duterte 'plot'

The Vice President of the Philippines has resigned from a senior cabinet position after suggesting President Rodrigo Duterte plotted to remove her from the post and “steal” the vice presidency.

Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party informed Mr Duterte that she was stepping down as chairperson of the country’s Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), after the President told her to “desist from attending all cabinet meetings”.

Ms Robredo and Mr Duterte come from rival political parties, as often happens in the Philippines where presidents and vice presidents are elected separately.

The two were rumoured to have fallen out after Mr Duterte controversially decided to allow former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be reburied in the Philippines’ Heroes’ Cemetery. Ms Robredo has also criticised the President’s violent war on drugs, which has involved the killing of suspects without trial.

“I have exerted all efforts to put aside our differences,” Ms Robredo, a human rights lawyer, told the President. “The Filipino people deserve no less.”

“However, your directive for me to ‘desist from attending all cabinet meetings’ has effectively made it impossible for me to do my job. Remaining in your cabinet has become untenable.”

The Vice President pointed to her accomplishments with the HUDCC during her six months in charge, and highlighted “obstacles that were thrown in our way” by Mr Duterte’s administration.

Ms Robredo told journalists her resignation did not mean she would be giving up the vice presidency in the near future, but suggested there was a schism between herself and the President.

“I will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen. I will not allow the will of the people to be thwarted,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to serve the Filipino people and fulfil dreams for a better life.”

“From the very beginning, the President and I had major differences in principles and values. Since I assumed office, I have been consistent in my opposition to issues such as the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos, extra-judicial killings, reinstating death penalty, lowering the age of criminal liability, and sexual attacks against women.

“I had been warned of a plot to steal the vice presidency. The events of recent days indicate that this plot is now being set in motion.”

Mr Duterte’s communications secretary Martin Andanar told local news website Rappler there were “irreconcilable and public differences between the President and the Vice President” that would be difficult to resolve.

The President has proved to be a divisive and controversial figure since he took office in June this year, and a psychiatric report has suggested he had a “grandiose sense of self-entitlement”.

Mr Duterte’s war on drugs has been criticised by senior politicial figures in the West, although he recently claimed US President-elect Donald Trump and himself were alike, as they both liked to swear.