Rody on Salalima: I asked him to quit

President Duterte yesterday said that he asked former information and communications technology secretary Rodolfo Salalima to resign, after he received complaints that the official was partial to one company.

Duterte said Salalima, his former classmate at the San Beda College of Law, was lying when he claimed that he quit his post because of corruption in the agency.

“I wanted to open the telecom industry so that the services would become cheaper…Many are complaining to me that he seemed to be partial because he was vice president of Globe, but I know that,” the President told state-run PTV 4 in an interview aired yesterday.

“I am not saying that he is protecting someone but with regard to the giant telecommunications from China and Singapore, he had no action,” he added.

Duterte had said he was open to investments from foreign telecommunication firms to break what he called the “duopoly” in the industry.

Salalima, who served as chief legal counsel of Globe Telecom, has claimed that he resigned from his post because of “interference” and “corruption.”

The President, however, said in an earlier interview that the former Cabinet official quit out of “delicadeza” because of his former ties with a telecommunication firm.

He said Salalima never informed him about the supposed corruption in his agency.

“For all the time, he did not mention anything about corruption. Nothing. After a meeting, we would go home,” he said.