The Asian reporter., December 19, 2016, Page Page 5, Image 5

ASIA / PACIFIC
December 19, 2016
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Philippine vice president quits
cabinet in new Duterte dilemma
By Jim Gomez
The Associated Press
ANILA, The Philippines — The Philippine vice
president resigned her cabinet post after citing
irreconcilable differences with President Rod-
rigo Duterte, who had banned her from attending cabinet
meetings, in a new political dilemma for the leader.
Leni Robredo, who stepped down as housing secretary,
but will stay on as vice president, spoke of “major
differences in principles and values” with the brash-
talking president and a plot to remove her from the vice
presidency. Duterte accepted her resignation “with a
heavy heart” and immediately named a replacement.
In the Philippines, presidents and vice presidents are
elected separately and often come from rival political
parties, like Duterte and Robredo.
In her resignation letter, Robredo told Duterte that she
“exerted all effort to put aside our differences, maintain a
professional working relationship, and work effectively
despite the constraints.” But she said Duterte’s order
banning her from cabinet meetings made it impossible for
her to do her job at the housing agency.
“Remaining in your cabinet has become untenable,” she
said.
A human-rights lawyer and respected political
newcomer, Robredo said at a news conference that she
would stay on in her elected post as vice president, adding
that she would continue her anti-poverty projects.
“We will not allow the vice presidency to be stolen
because that is against the voice of the majority,” Robredo
told reporters.
Robredo suggested that the Duterte administration
may be supporting former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong”
Marcos Jr., her closest opponent in May’s vice presidential
election. She did not mention the alleged plot to oust her
from the vice presidency in her resignation letter.
Marcos Jr. is the namesake and son of the late dictator
Ferdinand Marcos, who was overthrown by a 1986 “people
power” revolt. Robredo actively joined that uprising.
“We have fought this battle before and won,” Robredo
said. “We will never let anyone revise our history and
twist it to turn evil into good.”
Robredo’s resignation comes amid a political storm over
Duterte’s decision to allow the burial of the long-dead
dictator Marcos in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery and a
bloody crackdown against illegal drugs that has alarmed
western governments and human-rights watchdogs.
Robredo is the second official to resign from Duterte’s
administration within the span of a week. Maria Serena
Diokno quit as head of the government’s historical
M
ACTRESS-TURNED-POLITICIAN. India’s southern Tamil Nadu
state chief minister, Jayaram Jayalalithaa, addresses a press conference
in New Delhi, India, in this June 14, 2011 file photo. Jayalalithaa, the
hugely popular south Indian actress who later turned to politics and be-
came the highest elected official in the state of Tamil Nadu, died Decem-
ber 5, 2016. She was 68 years old. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)
Indian actress-turned-politician
Jayaram Jayalalithaa dies
CHENNAI, India (AP) — Hospital authorities have
reported that South Indian actress-turned-politician
Jayaram Jayalalithaa has died at age 68. The Apollo
Hospital in the southern Indian city of Chennai said
Jayalalithaa died after suffering a heart attack.
Jayalalithaa inspired intense loyalty among film and
political fans alike, and was widely known as “Amma,”
which means “Mother” in the Tamil language.
She was hospitalized in September in Tamil Nadu’s
capital of Chennai after suffering from fever, dehydration,
and an unspecified lung illness. As her condition
reportedly deteriorated, thousands prayed outside the
hospital for her recovery.
She worked on nearly 150 Tamil-language movies,
many as a romantic lead, before following her mentor into
politics. She was Tamil Nadu’s chief minister for more
than 15 years, and was praised for her efforts fighting
rural poverty.
Tokyo breaks ground on new
2020 Olympics National Stadium
TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo
recently held a ground-
breaking ceremony for a
$1.5-billion National Sta-
dium to host the 2020
Olympic Games.
Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe,
Tokyo
governor
Yuriko Koike, and other
dignitaries launched the
construction at the site of
the demolished National
Stadium, which was used
during the 1964 Tokyo
Olympics, by putting their
hands on a glass sphere
that
rotated
through
pastels of the colors of the
Olympic logo.
The ceremony ended
with a video replete with
computer graphics show-
ing how the stadium is
expected to look and
function once completed by
November 2019.
Work on the stadium in
the center of the city fell
behind schedule because
the government abandoned
the original design amid
spiralling
costs
and
complaints over its scale
and appearance.
Koike, Tokyo’s first fe-
male governor, took office
in July pledging to use her
platform to host a cost
efficient and environmen-
tally friendly 2020 Olym-
pics. She has lambasted
organizers of the 2020
games for failing to keep
costs under control.
An expert panel she ap-
pointed put the price tag of
the 2020 Games at more
than $30 billion, barring
drastic cost-cutting meas-
ures, a more than a four-
fold increase from the
initial estimate when the
city was awarded the
games in 2013.
Fans of the old stadium,
built in the late 1950s,
lobbied to keep and
renovate it. But in the end,
the government opted to
replace it with a more
modern facility.
Kengo Kuma, the archi-
tect of the new, open-air
stadium, chose a wooden
lattice design that echoes
traditional styles seen in
Japanese shrines and pa-
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#92453
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Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
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Solution to
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puzzle
Puzzle #68353 (Medium)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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CABINET CLASH. Philippine vice president Leni Robredo smiles
prior to a news conference following her resignation from her cabinet post
under President Rodrigo Duterte, in suburban Quezon city, south of Ma-
nila, the Philippines. Robredo resigned her cabinet post after citing irrec-
oncilable differences with Duterte, who had banned her from attending
cabinet meetings. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
commission to protest Duterte’s decision to allow the
November 18 burial of the former president in the ceme-
tery.
Robredo cited her strong opposition to the burial, the
drug killings, Duterte’s plan to reimpose the death
penalty, and “sexual attacks against women” among the
issues on which she differed with Duterte, who took office
on June 30.
The last straw, she said, was when she was notified by
cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. through a text
message about the president’s order for Robredo “to desist
from attending all cabinet meetings.”
Evasco said Duterte decided to bar her from cabinet
meetings because of her “irreconcilable differences” with
the Duterte administration.
Robredo, 52, did not provide details about the alleged
plot to remove her from the vice presidency, but her
electoral victory has been questioned by Marcos Jr., a
friend of Duterte.
Marcos Jr. lost by a slim margin to Robredo, the widow
of a popular politician who built a name as an honest,
hands-on provincial mayor who wore slippers to work and
reached out to the poor in the countryside.
Robredo’s husband died in a plane crash in 2012; she
later acceded to widespread calls for her to enter politics.