MANILA, Philippines — Eradicating corruption is “impossible,” President Rodrigo Duterte admitted in his pre-recorded speech that aired Wednesday night.
“I have promised the nation, I said, I would dedicate the remaining months of stay in the Office of the President going after corrupt people so that by the time they would be somewhat fewer,” Duterte said.
“Don’t expect me to entirely clean as a pristine clean bureaucracy. That is impossible and cannot really be achievable,” he added.
Duterte has repeatedly expressed his frustration with corruption in the bureaucracy and said he once offered to resign because he was “getting fed up.”
He also said he would be willing to appear before Congress to discuss how to fight corruption.
Last year, he ordered the Department of Justice to conduct a government-wide probe of corruption.
Ending corruption was among Duterte’s campaign promises in his when he ran in 2016.