The move was announced by the presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo, who cited lack of trust between Duterte and Robredo, who also serves as the nation’s vice president. He accused Robredo of overstepping her authority by seeking classified information and meeting with foreign officials that “know little or [nothing] at all about our situation, other than their own bias or unsubstantiated prejudgment.”

The VP reportedly sought to discuss Philippines drug war initiated by Duterte with Manila-based UN and US officials. Panelo said Robredo failed to present a sound strategy for tackling the country’s drug problems over the weeks after her appointment, adding that the president’s patience has eventually run out.

"In a campaign where peoples' lives are at risk, a day is eternity. The government cannot twiddle its thumbs and sit idly hoping for a flash of brilliance from the vice president”

“Essentially, what the vice-president has done is to embarrass our country,” Panelo added. Panelo called Robredo’s short stint in the office a wasted opportunity for the opposition and the government to pull their efforts together, noting that Robredo should have asked for a meeting with Duterte so he can clarify the scope of her duties instead of her jumping the gun.

Earlier, Duterte took aim at Robredo for failing to fulfill her new role and called her “scatterbrain” but stopped short of sacking her.

So far, the president, who is currently at a two-day summit between South Korea and ASEAN, has not commented on the development. Robredo’s spokesman, meanwhile, told CNN that she has learnt about her dismissal from media and has yet to receive a formal notice from the government.

Duterte surprisingly appointed his vice president as a co-chair of an inter-agency panel on drugs early November and ordered all other agencies to give her their full support. At that time, he said that the fiercest critic of his drug war must have some ideas on how to “make it effective.”

Duterte has made harsh crackdown on drug dealers and substance abusers known as Manila’s ‘War on Drugs’ a cornerstone of his domestic policy. The campaign has been heavily criticized in the West, drawing the ire from human rights advocates and international organizations across the world, including the UN, amid allegations that the Philippines’s state security forces have been complicit in thousands of extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

Yet, the Philippines president stood defiant in his defense of harsh measures,  refusing to cooperate with a UN human rights tribunal and arguing that if he ever goes on trial over his actions it would be in his home country. That is unlikely to happen in the nearest future, though, as he remains highly popular among the public with an approval rating of more than 80%.

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