Former Senator Leila De Lima suggested that Vice President Sara Duterte should step down from her position as the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Secretary if she continuously opposes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to pardon rebels and revive peace talks with the communist group.

In her social media platform “X,” De Lima said that Duterte should resign as the education secretary if she publicly shows her opposition to Marcos’ cabinet policy decisions, which have nothing to do with DepEd.

She should resign as Deped Sec if she keeps on publicly opposing BBM's Cabinet policy decisions that have nothing to do w/ DepEd. She cannot eat cake and keep it too. She can only go on criticizing BBM's policies if she is no longer member of Cabinet and speaks only as VP. (2/2)

— Leila de Lima (@AttyLeiladeLima) December 4, 2023

De Lima emphasized that the vice president can only criticize the president if she is talking as the vice president, and Duterte is also part of the Cabinet.

On Monday, Duterte released a video statement saying that she disagrees with the peace talks, appealing to Marcos the need to review the policies, and calling Oslo communique an “agreement with the devil."

The video was uploaded after Marcos granted amnesty to current and former members of rebel groups on November 24, announcing that it would resume peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) a few days later after signing a joint communiqué in Oslo, Norway.