No use of public funds for campaigning: PRRD to gov’t officials

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the Peace and Order Summit for Barangay Officials held at the Ibalong Centrum for Recreation in Legazpi City, Albay on February 8, 2019. KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte ordered government officials not to use public funds for campaigning in this year’s mid-term polls.

“Just to do away with those issues and to make it really equal for all, nobody uses government property or funds because that is not allowed by law,” he said in his speech at the Peace and Order Summit for Barangay Officials in Legazpi City, Albay on Friday.

Duterte said he has not allowed government officials to campaign for or against 2019 bets.

“Ang mga taga-gobyerno (those in government), including the Cabinet secretary, I have not allowed them to do some campaigning for or against anybody,” he said.

The President said all government officials and employees are workers who should do their jobs right.

“We are workers of government. We are paid to do what we are doing and we must be doing it right,” he said.

Duterte said he will not be involved in the politics of the 2019 mid-term elections but will be campaigning for people he owes a debt of gratitude to.

He also called on politicians and candidates to follow the law in limiting their number of firearms and security detail.

“Any politician, whether for or against me or my administration, are bound by the same limitations of law. That is the Alunan doctrine which I am adopting because it is good for the country. Nobody, no politicians would go around with long firearms,” he said.

The President was referring to the doctrine introduced by then interior secretary Rafael Alunan, which limits the number of a politician’s armed bodyguards to only two.