Lawyer Barry Gutierrez, former spokesperson for Vice President Leni Robredo, said Vice President Sara Duterte’s removal from the National Security Council (NSC) was a result of her own actions, particularly her public threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Gutierrez argued that these statements made her a potential threat to national security. He was referring to the ‘kill remarks’ delivered by Duterte against the President, First Lady Liza Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez in November last year.
“That is certainly more than enough basis for excluding her from the NSC, considering that she unequivocally demonstrated that she herself may be a threat to national security,” Gutierrez told the Manila Standard.
While the exact reason for Duterte’s removal was not stated, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin explained that the Vice President “is not relevant” to the NSC’s duties.
National Security Adviser Eduardo Año added that the changes, detailed in Executive Order (EO) 81 released by Malacañang on Friday, were necessary to address evolving national security threats.
In response, former presidential spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, on Saturday, criticized the removal of VP Duterte and her prior exclusion from NSC meetings, accusing the President of “dirty politics” that aims to “diminish” the political capital of the VP.
Reflecting on Robredo’s experience, Gutierrez noted that while Robredo was not formally excluded from the NSC, unlike VP Duterte, she only attended one meeting during her six-year term.
“As regards VP Leni’s experience, as far as I can recall, she attended one meeting early in the term in 2016. I don’t recall her attending another one for the rest of the term. Now whether that was due to her being ‘uninvited’—as she was for Cabinet meetings—or because they never convened again, I would not know,” he said.
Robredo confirmed in December 2016 that she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., conveying the President Rodrigo Duterte’s instruction, through his executive assistant Christopher Lawrence Go, for her “to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings.”
Evasco confirmed the announcement, citing “irreconcilable differences” between VP Robredo and the Duterte administration.
