MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo has thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the “reassurance” that she will be able to serve her full term. 

“Thank you. I would like to see it as a reassurance,” Robredo said at a forum hosted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday, December 8.

Robredo was asked about Duterte’s pronouncement to her fellow Bicolanos that day, denying an alleged administration-supported plot to dislodge her from the vice presidency.

Duterte said this in a chance interview with reporters after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bicol International Airport in Daraga, Albay. Robredo was born in Naga, Camarines Sur, a province in the Bicol region.

“I will assure Leni and the rest of the Bicol region that you will have her until the very end of her term,” stressed the President, breaking his silence on Robredo’s resignation from the Cabinet. He was asked about Robredo’s concern about an alleged plot to unseat her in favor of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, a friend of the President.

Robredo resigned as the chairperson of Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC) last Monday after receiving a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr that ordered her to “desist” attending all Cabinet meetings.

In her statement on Sunday, Robredo mentioned that she has “long been warned” of a plot to steal the vice presidency that she had initially chosen to ignore. But “events of recent days indicate that the plot is now being set into motion.”

Duterte and Palace officials have said that Robredo’s exclusion from the meeting was due to her “irreconcilable differences” with the President’s policies and not due to political reasons. – Rappler.com