Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo has hit out against President Rodrigo Duterte and his policies in her first comments after resigning from his cabinet. Robredo also repeated her allegation that there has been a plot to steal the vice-presidency from her.
Robredo, who served as secretary for housing, announced her resignation on Sunday after she was snubbed by Duterte, who ordered her exclusion from the cabinet meetings. "If you are not being allowed to attend cabinet meetings anymore, what does that mean? ... I will be an opposition leader. I will oppose policies that will be detrimental to the people," she said at a news conference, Reuters reported.
Robredo vowed to work as an opposition leader and continue the fight against the president's policies, most notably the brutal crackdown on drug use and the extra judicial killings he ordered. Robredo, a human rights lawyer turned politician, said she will also campaign against the death penalty and the lowering of the age of criminal liability.
Robredo resigned following her differences with the President over the administration's two key actions in recent times -- the hero's burial given to former president Ferdinand Marcos and the brutal crackdown on and extra judicial killing of drug suspects.
Though she quit the cabinet, she will remain as the vice president. Presidents and vice presidents are separately elected n the Philippines and they can come from rival political parties.
Robredo, 52, repeated her charge that there has been an attempt to steal the vice presidency but gave no further details.
She questioned Duterte's decision to take Marcos Junior during his official visit to China in October. She said Duterte even introduced Marcos, who lost to he in the vice-presidential election, as the vice-president. "In China, the president took Bongbong Marcos and even introduced him as the vice president," she said.
