Clark official allegedly solicits P2 million from contracts
MANILA (UPDATED) - President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he would soon fire another government official over corruption allegations if the charges against him are proven.
“I’m about to fire somebody from here. Kung totoo na humingi siya ng pera, in a few days, I’ll fire him,” Duterte said in a speech in Pampanga, where the Chinese government handed over P370 million worth of weapons.
"Sinabi ko sa inyo, you avoid - magkasala na kayo nang magkasala - you avoid graft and corruption because that is the very thing that has pulled us down all throughout the years," he added.
Duterte, who has pursued a campaign against corruption, did not identify the official or mention the specific allegation in his Pampanga speech.
However, in a separate event at the Manila Hotel, Duterte said the official was from Clark, Pampanga who solicited at least P2 million for every contract being struck with locators in the freeport zone.
“Ako nagtitiis ng P130,000 na sweldo tapos ikaw P2 million kada pirma mo? Eh di palit na tayo ng trabaho,” Duterte said.
It has been the habit of the President to declare in public his decision to fire some of his appointees due to allegations of corruption or incompetence.
Duterte recently fired Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Benjamin Reyes for supposedly contradicting the government’s official data on drug addicts in the country.
In April, he sacked Cabinet Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Reina Valdez for overruling National Food Authority Administrator Jason Aquino's decision to suspend rice importation as it was still harvest season in the Philippines. Valdez denied the allegations.
The President had also axed Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno due to corruption allegations involving the country's purchase of firetrucks from an Austrian firm.
Sueno maintained he was not corrupt and said the President may have been fed wrong information.