Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday fired his chief political rival from the role of "drugs tsar", accusing her of embarrassing the country by trying to draw undue international attention to his war on drugs.
Leni Robredo, who is also vice president and was elected separately to Duterte, accepted the role on Nov. 6, against advice of her allies, who said it was a trap designed to discredit her.
Robredo has angered Duterte by criticizing what she called "senseless killings" during a crackdown on drugs that caused international alarm, due to the thousands of mostly urban poor killed in what
police said were drugs busts that turned into shootouts.