MANILA, Philippines – If given a choice, Vice President Leni Robredo would have remained in the Cabinet to show her support for the administration of President Duterte.

“If it were up to me, I wanted to have the chance to support his policies because that is our mandate. It was expected of us to not let politics affect our relationship,” Robredo told reporters in Filipino yesterday.

“The order not to be a part of the Cabinet did not come from us,” she added.

Robredo resigned as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council last Monday after she was told to desist from attending Cabinet meetings.

Malacañang cited “irreconcilable differences” between Duterte and Robredo in explaining the desist order.

Robredo was in Laguna to attend the anniversary of micro-financing institution CARD MRI Inc.

In an interview, Robredo was asked about the recent joke of the President that she was waiting for his plane to crash.

“The Philippines will be at a disadvantage because he is the one who has the mandate of the Filipino people,” the Vice President said.

“Because he has the mandate, it is our obligation to support him. However, it is also our obligation to call his attention on policies that we think are wrong,” she added.

Amid allegations that the Liberal Party (LP) is plotting to oust Duterte and install her as chief executive, the Vice President repeatedly stated she had no ambition to be president and even assured Duterte he would finish his six-year term.

Robredo said she talked with former president Benigno Aquino III, her runningmate former interior secretary Mar Roxas and with other LP leaders and her employees before she decided to make public her decision to resign from the Cabinet.

She noted, however, that their position as a party has yet to be discussed in a party meeting.

Robredo, who is currently party chairman as she holds the highest elected post, said she met with partymates at the House of Representatives where she was asked for the direction of the former ruling party.

“I said they should talk among themselves, but told them of my position to be supportive of good policies and be vigorously opposed to policies that threaten our democracy,” she said in Filipino.

Most LP members in the House are part of the ruling coalition, and a small faction led by Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat is claiming to represent the legitimate minority.

Robredo said she hopes LP interim president Sen. Francis Pangilinan will call for a party meeting in January.