Duterte hints at firing five of his appointees

PRESIDENT Duterte is keeping a list of his appointees who would soon get the axe.

At a meeting with local officials on Saturday, the President said at least five names on the list would soon be fired.

“I’d like to add more,” Mr. Duterte said, according to a transcript of his speech during dinner with the officials at the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel and
Casino.

But the President did not identify the officials he said he would fire soon.

But he talked lengthily about one undersecretary who, he said, had been dropping the name of a relative to extort money.

Mr. Duterte said he would talk with the official before firing him.

He said the official “ran afoul” with his department and “sought the help of, I think, my sister.”

“His violation? He violated my order not to mention my name or talk with my relatives,” the President said.

“I will really kick you out,” Mr. Duterte said.

The President reiterated his order for officials never to drop his name or any of his relatives in discussions over government projects.

He said he was being careful about being painted as corrupt.

“I’m not pretending to be a saint or I’m the most decent person,” Mr. Duterte said.

“But you can ask anybody, anybody from Davao if I asked for even one peso from anyone,” he said, referring to his days as Davao City mayor.

Mr. Duterte admitted, though, that he could not eliminate corruption because it had already become embedded “into the bones” of government officials.

Some people might think holding public office was a chance to make money illegally especially since government pay was low, the President said.

But a low pay was “what you get for joining government,” Mr. Duterte said.

He said if anyone used his or any of his relatives’ names to win favors “consider it denied.”

He also explained why amid his repeated rant against corruption, he continued to trust Nicanor Faeldon, who had been accused by Sen. Panfilo Lacson of being on the take from smugglers as Customs chief.

Faeldon, according to Mr. Duterte,was honest.

He said Faeldon could have easily made money from Mighty Corp. when the now shuttered cigarette company had been grappling with countless cases of using fake tax stamps.

“Faeldon is a person whom I trust,” Mr. Duterte said. “Why? Because he could have made money. Billions if he wanted to,” he added.

He said it was Faeldon who ran after Mighty Corp., which had paid at least P40 billion to the government to settle its tax liabilities.

Again without naming names, Mr. Duterte recalled Faeldon telling him that the Customs Bureau was after someone who was known to the President.

When Faeldon told him who, Mr. Duterte said he told the former Customs chief to proceed.

The smuggling of P6.4 billion in crystal meth through the Customs Bureau was an unfortunate case because it happened under Faeldon’s watch, Mr. Duterte said.

But the President said he still appointed Faeldon to another government position — deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense — because “I believe in the guy.”