Malacañang says no resignation from Aguirre, Bello

FILE: Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aquirre II (YANCY LIM/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

The Palace clarified that two of the cabinet members of the administration have not submitted any resignation letters amid rumors.

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on April 4, Wednesday that Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III have not resigned nor has President Rodrigo Roa Duterte mentioned the issue.

“The Office of the President has not received any letter of resignation from either Secretary [Silvestre] Bello or from Secretary Aguirre. And the President has just returned from his Holy Week visit to his hometown and he has not given any statement regarding this matter,” Guevarra said during a press briefing.

“He (Duterte) has been generally satisfied with the performance of the Secretary of Justice. But well, except for certain debacles that happened to the DOJ recently, the President did not hide his displeasure about certain developments pertaining to the war on drugs, more specifically the dismissal of charges against certain high profile suspects,” he added.

Gueverra also said that the Palace is not aware of any “impending Cabinet revamp.”

He then confirmed that Aguirre and Bello were invited and present at the Cabinet meeting on that day.

Reports on the resignation of the Justice Secretary surfaced on March 13 when Duterte in a joint command conference with the police and military commented on the Justice department’s dismissal of Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa’s drug case.

The President warned that if the suspected drug lords get away because of their scrapped criminal case, Aguirre would be “replacing” them in jail in a Facebook status by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr.

“’Pag nakawala ‘yan si Lim at Espinosa, siya ang ipapalit ko (If Lim and Espinosa get away in jail, I will replace him there). I can review that dismissal order. Nag-amin na nga sa (He even admitted to) Congress!

Why not admit it as evidence against him?” Roque quoted the President.

Meanwhile, Bello was reportedly getting ready for his senatorial bid in 2019.