President Rodrigo Duterte is not keen on asking Left-leaning Cabinet members to stop attending Cabinet meetings despite taking different positions on several issues, a Palace official said Tuesday.

This, after Vice President Leni Robredo and Commission on Higher Education chair Patricia Licuanan were told to desist from attending all Cabinet meetings.

Aside from Robredo, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Education Secretary Leonor Briones have also been vocal about their stance against the Duterte-approved burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the heroes' cemetery.

Both secretaries have also attended anti-Marcos protests.

However, Taguiwalo and Briones will not suffer the same fate as Robredo as these opposing views were "already expected from them."

"It is not a political action against (the President). It's simply an expression of ideological conviction," Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.

"As the President says, 'this is the song of the Left'... It is expected from them. It's not a double standard."

Abella said Duterte and Robredo used to have a warm relationship during Cabinet meetings but "the President felt uncomfortable with her engagement in certain political actions."

He said Duterte allows dissent among his alter egos, but it all boils down to "having mutual trust."

"We may disagree but, at the end of the day, we have the same actions... It's essential that when we agree here (inside), we should make the same positions outside," he said.

"We would like to have her (Robredo) there (in the Cabinet), but if she will be the alter ego of the President, then their messaging should be congruent."

NO MARCOS FACTOR

Abella also denied that Duterte's inner circle is paving the way for former Senator Bongbong Marcos, who lost the vice presidency to Robredo by a slim margin, to join the Cabinet.

"Marcos was not at all discussed nor surfaced during those meetings... Not being wanted (in the Cabinet) was her (Robredo's) subjective feeling," he said.

He refused to grade Robredo's performance as housing czar as the vice president only sat as Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chief for five months.

"She functioned as best as she could," he said.

He underscored that Duterte ordered the exclusion of Robredo from Cabinet meetings was due to "irreconcilable differences, not inefficiency."