Sueno says he is a ‘willing victim’

Dismissed interior and local government chief Ismael Sueno yesterday said he has accepted his fate as a “willing victim,” much like Jesus Christ centuries ago.

Sueno also stressed he is not angry at President Duterte, who unceremoniously fired him after a Cabinet meeting last Monday night, or at the three undersecretaries who worked for his ouster.

He said just as Jesus in anguish sweated blood at the Garden of Gethsemane, he too is suffering for being falsely accused of wrongdoing.

“If I am suffering, what more did Christ suffer?” he said, adding that although Christ suffered “ignominies” on the cross, He asked God to “forgive them for they don’t know what they do.”

What he was suffering now, “I will do it gladly, just what Jesus Christ has done for us,” he added.

Some DILG employees, led by Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III, attended a farewell program for Sueno at 9 a.m. yesterday.

They described Sueno as a good man and that the accusations against him were not true.

Sueno joked that officials sounded like they were giving him a eulogy. He said he was thankful to hear those kind words while he is still alive.

Sueno said he couldn’t help shedding tears of joy as he entered the DILG building to attend the program prepared for him by the DILG employees.

He said he looked around for his three accusers – undersecretaries John Castriciones for operations, Jesus Hinlo for public safety and Emilie Padilla for legislative liaison and special concerns – but they were not there.

“If they are here, I have forgiven them, I love them,” he said.

But he admitted he is hurting from the experience.

“I couldn’t sleep. I felt shame, I felt everything in me was ruined. I couldn’t eat,” he said in Filipino.

;Sueno recalled how the President told him about his dismissal. He said Duterte immediately confronted him about the Rosenbauer fire trucks and that he was not given a chance to explain.