Palace on firing of Robredo: She had it coming

MANILA, Philippines – “She had it coming.”

This was how Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo described the firing of Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

President Duterte fired Robredo from the anti-drug body Sunday night, exactly 18 days since she accepted the appointment to co-chair the inter-agency committee with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief.

“Well the Vice President had it coming when she made missteps and apart from that, the president of the Liberal Party was daring President (Duterte) to fire her and the VP Leni taunting him to fire her,” Panelo told ABS-CBN News Channel Monday morning.

“She had this coming, it’s not surprising.”

The Palace official was referring to the statement of opposition Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan urging the President to just fire Robredo instead of insulting her with a declaration of distrust.

In firing Robredo, the Palace explained that the decision was Duterte’s response to the dare of the opposition to fire her due to lack of trust.

Duterte earlier said he will fire the opposition stalwart if she discloses confidential information to foreign entities in connection with his administration’s brutal war on drugs.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1190795/duterte-to-remove-robredo-from-anti-drug-post-if-she-reveals-state-secrets-to-foreign-entities-palace

He also said he cannot trust Robredo, whom he described as a “scatterbrain” with “kneejerk” responses, from the basis that she’s from the opposition.

The President appointed Robredo to the ICAD after the latter criticized the war on drugs.

GSG