PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he isn’t giving any second chance to Vice President Leni Robredo, saying he would not give her another Cabinet post because their relationship was “incongruous.”
“At this time, I am not considering it,” Duterte said in a CNN Philippines interview, after being pressed if he would give the Vice President another chance to serve in his government.
Duterte said it would be almost impossible to work with Robredo, who heads the Liberal Party, which he said is hatching plans to oust him.
“The problem is, things between us cannot be finished because there are people who cannot accept defeat,” Duterte told CNN Philippines.
Duterte said that while he openly welcomed the Vice President into his official family, he had second thoughts about her after a series of demonstrations called for his ouster.
“The left would never demand my ouster, maybe not now but some other time. But the yellows, they want me out. Well, everything that I’m doing now is my campaign promise. War on drugs, the Marcos burial,” he said.
Robredo, who resigned as housing czar after being told to stop attending Cabinet meetings, has openly criticized Duterte for his bloody war on drugs, particularly on the extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the state, and his decision to proceed with burying the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Robredo also voiced suspicions that the President supported her rival for the vice presidency, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and wanted her replaced.
Marcos had earlier filed an electoral protest against Robredo before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal after losing to her in a close contest.
In the same interview, Duterte said his losing running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, would become Foreign secretary after Perfecto Yasay returns to the United States to fulfill his teaching obligations.
“Alan Cayetano will be coming in to take the post of Yasay,” Duterte said.
Duterte said he had no problem with reappointing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, but said his hands were tied by a two-term limit.
“I don’t have a problem with Tetangco, but I have a problem with the AMLC,” he said, referring to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Robredo on Thursday denied that she was magnifying the threat of Martial Law under the Duterte administration.
“Vice President Leni Robredo did not intend to make it appear that President Duterte was going to declare Martial Law. President Duterte did that himself,” her statement read.
“Every time President Duterte has been called out on his comments, it is either dismissed as a joke or said to be taken out of context.”
Georgina Hernandez, Robredo’s spokesperson, said it was the President who was responsible in floating the idea of a return to martial law.
The camp of Robredo, however, said Duterte’s statement must be taken as a serious matter.
“The threat of Martial Law and the desire for a one-man rule can never be a laughing matter. Nor can the threat be exaggerated,” Hernandez said.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella accused Robredo of fueling the fears of martial rule by condemning Duterte’s suggestion.
“No matter what is thrown at us, we will stand fast in defending our freedom and our rights as Filipinos,” Hernandez said.
“We will never allow Martial Law to happen again. The sooner this message sinks in, the better for all,” she said. With Rio N. Araja
