Malacañang defers announcement on official to be sacked

MALACAÑANG HAS deferred its planned disclosure of the name of the government official expected to be fired by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. said on Wednesday, Dec. 3, “I read a text instructing me to hold in abeyance announcement of who it is that the President will sack next. Of course, this is not the first time it has happened. When he announced that he will fire an entire commission, he did not mention which commission first and it took a couple of days before I was authorized to make the announcement.”

He added: “So, although I was directed to announce as early as Jan. 30, the instruction was to announce in our next press briefing, which is today. But of course, the beginning of the day, I was asked to defer with the said announcement.”

Mr. Roque also said he had been advised by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) that the President was “reviewing the legislative charter of the agency” which is currently headed by the said official.

As for the possibility that the official could be from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office ( PCSO), Mr. Roque said: “I can make the confirmation that the official... is not from the PCSO ( Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office).”

The spokesman noted Mr. Duterte’s awareness of PCSO board member Sandra Cam’s allegation on agency’s Christmas party said to cost about P10 million.

“He knows about the issue. I have confirmed that he knows about the issue,” Mr. Roque said, adding that the President “holds in high esteem both (the) PCSO General Manager and Sandra Cam” whom he recently appointed to the post. —