Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Patricia Licuanan has also been ordered to desist from attending Cabinet meetings, she announced Monday.
Licuanan said that the instruction came from President Rodrigo Duterte through Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. on Sunday.
“On Sunday, 04 December 2016, I received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. relaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions to stop attending Cabinet meetings starting this Monday, 05 December, 2PM,” Licuanan disclosed in an official statement.
“I assured Sec. Evasco that I would comply. In the meantime, I will continue my work as Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education,” she added.
The message is similar to a supposed directive that Vice President Leni Robredo received Sunday, also from Evasco. Robredo, who also served as Housing Secretary, was told to “to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings starting this Monday, December 5.”
The message prompted Robredo to resign, calling it the “last straw” in a series of efforts to prevent her from performing her duties.
Related: VP Robredo resigns as Housing Secretary
No reason was given in the text message, but presidential spokespersons later attributed it to “irreconcilable differences” between Robredo and President Rodrigo Duterte.
Earlier, three board members of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, including its chairman Maria Serena Diokno, resigned amid disagreements over the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos in Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Related: Supreme Court, Duterte must revisit history – former NHCP chair
Duterte formerly endorsed former professor John Lapuz over Licuanan, but the latter has not been replaced as of date.
Licuanan, who was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III, is expected to end her term in 2018.
