Local officials will be the next target on Duterte’s chopping block

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

From presidential appointees, President Rodrigo Duterte will now turn his head to local officials as the next target of his chopping block, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

“The President stated that he will continue with the process of cleansing the bureaucracy and that he will now turn more of his attention to local government units including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM),” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said at a press briefing.

This announcement came after Duterte dismissed a strand of presidential appointees for various alleged offenses, mostly due to “excessive” international trips.

The axed officials include Dangerous Drugs Board chariman Dionisio Santiago, Budget Undersecretary Gertrudo de Leon, Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor chairman Terry Ridon, Development Academy of the Philippines president Elba Cruz, and Maritime Industry Authority administrator Marcial Amaro III.

Asked what led Duterte to such statement, Roque said the President only wants to “clean up the ranks” of those occupying government posts.

“The President mentioned in the Cabinet meeting his resolve also to clean up the ranks of the local government executives to highlight that it’s not just presidential appointees that would be subject to this campaign to promote public accountability but includes everyone in government,” Roque said.

Roque said that Duterte has expressed his “firm resolve against corruption” even as the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, made by Executive Order (EO) No. 43, has yet to be constituted.

“The President has not waited for its constitution before he has started actually the purging of corrupt officials in government. As you know, even without the commission, he has gone ahead and fired many of his presidential appointees,” Roque stressed.

“He has shown that with or without it, he has a firm resolve against corruption and he will implement it,” he added.

Duterte earlier gave marching orders to Interior Undersecretary and now officer-in-charge Eduardo Año to investigate mayors and governors who “allow corruption to thrive” in their localities. The accused local executives will be given three days to respond to the findings of Año’s probe into corruption allegations.

The President has repeatedly warned that a “whiff of corruption” is sufficient basis for him to sack a government official.