Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella. JOAN BONDOC/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Malacañang dismissed insinuations that President Duterte’s order sacking Vice President Leni Robredo as housing czar was part of a sinister plot to unseat her as the country’s second highest elected official.
“I don’t know about the plot, but I think that’s quite stretched,” Mr. Duterte’s spokesperson,
, told reporters on Monday night.
“That may be her opinion. But as far as I know from the Cabinet part, (there’s none),” he stressed.
Asked if the President wanted Robredo to keep her post as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), he replied: “At the end of the day, there’s no attachment. He wanted her in, but it’s her choice to leave.”
As to whether Mr. Duterte fired Robredo from the Cabinet, Abella said: “She was simply asked to desist from coming to the (Cabinet) meeting.”
He said Robredo could have stayed on as HUDCC chair as she could still carry out her mandate even without her being a member of the President’s official family.
Said Abella: “There’s nothing personal (in the President’s decision). His respect remains for the Vice President.”
He said the President briefly discussed Robredo’s resignation during the Cabinet meeting, which happened moments before she held a press conference in her office in Quezon City.
Mr. Duterte’s spokesperson described the mood during the meeting as “quite upbeat.”
“But when he was asked about it, he said he feels heavy about it… The President said he did feel bad about her resigning,” Abella said.