Former senator Leila de Lima on Thursday chided Vice President Sara Duterte for publicly voicing her opposition to the resumption of peace talks with the communist rebels, saying that as alter egos of the President, all Cabinet members should support his policies.
An alter ego, De Lima said, cannot have a different mind than the President.
“That’s why it’s an alter ego. Otherwise, it’s already a separate ego, if a Cabinet official always opposes the principal,” she said.
Earlier, De Lima called on Duterte to resign as secretary of the Department of Education due to her views that conflict with those of the President.
De Lima said that while Duterte can voice contrary views as the vice president, she should not forget that she is still a Cabinet secretary, bound to the alter ego principle in the executive branch.
“If she wants to keep voicing contrary policy positions to the Cabinet, she should be shorn of her alter ego role first. She cannot eat her cake and keep it too,” she said.
The problem with Duterte, De Lima said, is her mindset that she is a president-in-waiting or worse, a co-president entitled to oppose the President in his own Cabinet.
“She cannot do that. As a matter of principle, no Cabinet minister in the world can do that without being challenged by the Cabinet to stop singing a divergent tune. If you are out of tune, you will be told to leave the choir,” she added.
De Lima said no self-respecting Cabinet in the world will tolerate a rogue minister who publicly challenges the executive or Cabinet policy.
“That is a given. My observation is not personal to Sara. It is just the way how Cabinets all over the world work. You sing out of tune, you either get out or are kicked out,” she said.
Reacting to the resumption of peace talks earlier this month, Duterte said the decision was akin to reaching “an agreement with the devil.”
Earlier this week, National Security Adviser Eduardo Añowelcomed exploratory talks with the communist rebels but said these should be free of any preconditions.
In particular, he described as “premature” demands issued by the communists shortly after the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) agreed to resume peace negotiations.
The demands include:
• The release of NDFP peace consultants, allowing them to take part in the discussions and negotiations.
• The rescinding of the “terrorist” tag of the NDFP, Luis Jalandoni, the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, and other personnel of the NDFP.
• The dismantling of the National Task Force (NTF)-ELCAC, the repeal of the Anti-Terror Law, and the withdrawal of AFP soldiers conducting “localized peace negotiations” and “community support.”
• The release of more than 800 political prisoners
“All of these demands from the CPP-NPA are premature,” Año said in a statement read by NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya during a press conference of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Año said the lifting of the terrorist tag needs to follow a process spelled out under the Anti-Terrorism Act and should be a result of the signing of a final peace agreement.