Philippines VP to resign Cabinet post

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine vice president said Sunday that she will resign her Cabinet post, citing “major differences in principles and values” with President Rodrigo Duterte and an unspecified plot to remove her from the vice presidency.

Leni Robredo, a human-rights lawyer and respected political newcomer, said in a statement that she will tender her resignation today as housing secretary, an appointment made by Duterte, but will stay on in her elected post as vice president.

In the Philippines, presidents and vice presidents are separately elected and have often come from rival political parties, like Duterte and Robredo.

“I will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen. I will not allow the will of the people to be thwarted,” Robredo said without elaborating. “I will continue to serve the Filipino family and fulfill their dream for a better life.”

Robredo is the second key official to resign from Duterte’s administration in less than a week. Maria Serena Diokno quit as head of the government’s historical commission Tuesday to protest Duterte’s decision to allow the burial of long-dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery. The Nov. 18 burial was secretly carried out while left-wing petitioners were preparing to appeal a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the president’s decision to authorize it.