MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday (Monday) unveiled “strong points” on which President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly based on in reversing the appointment of Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) two weeks ago.

According to Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, the President decided to sack Robredo late Sunday (24 November 2019) for “grandstanding” and “missteps.”

“She had it coming. Unang-una, marami siyang missteps, at sinabi nga ni Presidente — iyong kanyang pakikipag-usap sa mga dapat niyang kausapin — (sa halip) kinakausap niya ay iyong mga Amerikano, iyong UN officials,” explained Panelo.

(“She had it coming. At first, she had a lot of missteps, and the President said — in his conversations with those she should speak to — (instead) she was talking to  Americans, UN officials, ”Panelo said.)

Some days back, the President was quoted as saying Robredo should have gone down to the ground talking to people in communities and not foreign officials in the UN and International Human Rights agencies.

In addition, Panelo said “it was clear from the Executive Order that the co-chair’s authority as stated in ICAD emanates from the President as such she would read it first and understand fully but she wanted more power and media mileage.”

Moreover, said Panelo, “the president of the Liberal Party (Sen. Kiko Pangilinan) asked the President to fire her (Robredo) and so the President fired her.”

Aside from this, the Vice President also told President Duterte through the  media saying: “If you don’t like me, do fire me.” (Chris Figureroa/IAMIGO/CNS)