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Duterte bars another chairperson from attending cabinet meeting after vice president

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The failure of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairwoman Patricia Licuanan to submit her courtesy resignation triggered President Duterte's decision to bar her from attending cabinet meetings, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Tuesday.

Abella said during a press conference that while Licuanan has a fixed term, the memorandum circular issued in August by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, on the orders of the President, covered all appointees under the previous Aquino administration.

On Monday, Licuanan said she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. to desist from attending the Cabinet meetings starting December 5.

The message is similar to what Vice President Leni Robredo received on Dec 3, also from Evasco, which prompted Robredo to resign as the Housing Secretary. She called it the "last straw" in a series of efforts to prevent her from performing her duties.

However, unlike the Vice President's response, Licuanan said she would continue with her work, but followed Duterte's order for her not to attend Cabinet meetings.

Abella said the courtesy resignation aims to give the new President "a free hand" in selecting the people he wants and ridding the government of corruption.

"On August 22, a letter, a memorandum, a circular was given. It was asking for the courtesy resignations of presidential appointees... But when I checked with the Office of the Executive Secretary, apparently there was no letter submitted from the Commissioner," he said.

He added that Memorandum Circular No. 4 was never revoked, even if it specified that the appointees from the previous administration were given seven days to comply.

Asked why it took the President five months before deciding to bar Licunan from the attending the Cabinet after her failure to comply with the circular, Abella said it "implies that the President is somehow a gentleman".

Abella added despite the order for Licuanan to desist from attending the Cabinet meetings, the operations and functions of her role as chairwoman of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) would not be affected. Endit