More heads to roll, warns President
PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte said on Saturday he will fire at least five officials, including an executive of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) and an assistant secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) because of alleged corruption. “They are about five in the list. I’d like to add more.
Sabi ko sa kanila (I told them) I will stop corruption and I’m doing it,” Mr. Duterte said in his speech during his meeting with Cebu’s local chief executives on Saturday, May 19.
Also attending the ceremonial opening of the Alegria Oilfied Polyard-3 Well Site in Alegria, Cebu, Mr. Duterte said he will fire the government’s corporate counsel and has asked a DPWH assistant secretary to resign.
“Karon ang akong gipa- resign. (Just recently, I asked someone to resign.) Maybe I’ll fire the Corporate Counsel tomorrow. Ang DPWH nga assistant secretary nga akong
brod sa law school, ako pung gipa- resign (I made the DPWH assistant secretary resign. He’s my brother in law school, but I made him resign too),” Mr. Duterte said.
The President did not mention the names of the two officials.
He added: “Daghan kong paresignon. Wa gyud ko’y kuan. Kani, brod nako gihapon. Ayaw ko’g istoryahi ana. Gikuha taka, nahibaw ka na sa akong batasan. Giingnan ta mo, ayaw. Ayaw pangawkaw kay dili na nako bisyo.”
(I made a lot of people resign, including one of my law school brothers yesterday, so do not bring that up to me. When I hired you, you already knew my character. I told you, “Don’t. Don’t be corrupt because corruption is not a vice of mine.”)
Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said last week that Mr. Duterte had asked DPWH Assistant Secretary Tingagun A. Umpa to submit his resignation letter to his office or be fired “for corruption.”
Citing a DPWH report, Mr. Roque said that Mr. Umpa allegedly “committed grave abuse of power, and may have committed acts of corruption.”
“[Mr. Umpa] asked from contractors in the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) area for certain percentages from projects awarded to these contractors,” the President’s spokesman said.