Former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael Sueño, who backed President Duterte during the 2016 presidential elections, has thrown his support to Vice President Leni Robredo.
Sueño was present in the campaign sortie of Robredo in Koronadal City in South Cotabato wherein he referred to the latter as the next president of the Republic of the Philippines.
He called that in the early days of the Duterte administration, the President would often praise Robredo who was then the head of the government's housing agency/
"This was an opportune time or chance for VP Leni to be 'sipsip' (obsequious) with the president and get a much higher Cabinet position. But she was silent and very determined and focused. She had a strong sense of morality," said Sueño in an ABS-CBN news report.
"When she started pointing out government excesses and impunities, she lost her Cabinet position," he added.
Robredo quit her Cabinet post after opposing Duterte's drug war, push for death penalty, and the hero's burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Since quitting the Duterte Cabinet, Sueño said that Robredo has faced online "lies" that branded her as stupid, weak and absentminded.
"Lies and misinformation are also prevalent in our country for years now. Our history is revised in favor of a dictator," he added.
A former South Cotabato governor, Sueño told fellow Mindanaoans "we cannot be passive and neutral and allow our history be rewritten."
"We must act now. If we don't, chances are that the beneficiaries of these lies and may come out winners of this year's national election," he said.
Sueño was sacked by Duterte over allegations of three DILG undersecretaries about his alleged involvement in various corruption allegations.
Sueño denied the allegations and insinuated that his sacking was a result of a power play at the DILG.