MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. believes opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan got Vice President Leni Robredo fired from her post as co-chairperson of the government’s anti-drug body.
“Uh, Kiko, I think you got her fired. Sometimes no talk no mistake,” Locsin said over Twitter on Monday.
Locsin’s tweet came after President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed Robredo from her post as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President’s decision to remove Robredo was in response to the opposition’s dare to fire her.
Pangilinan, however, said Malacañang’s explanation behind Robredo’s removal was “a desperate attempt at blaming others for the mess they themselves created.”
Pangilinan, president of the opposition’s Liberal Party, had said Malacañang should just fire Robredo instead of insulting her with a declaration of distrust.
He also earlier questioned the motive behind the designation of the Vice President as ICAD co-chairperson.
Locsin, in a separate tweet, also said Pangilinan should have given Robredo “a chance to use the opportunity the President gave her to serve in his campaign.”
“The job was offered to her, not to him. Even a bishop chimed in despite the Church’s failure to make drug dealing an excommunicable sin which it is: drugs destroy souls,” he went on.
Duterte had earlier said that he would sack Robredo should she divulge classified government information to foreign individuals or entities.