Duterte fires HUDCC exec over graft reports

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal in Tanza, Cavite on November 22, 2018. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

TANZA, Cavite — President Rodrigo Duterte announced Thursday the termination of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Secretary General Falconi V. Millar due to allegations of corruption.

Duterte made the announcement during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal (CGT), the country’s first and only container barge port located in Barangay Capipisa East, Tanza, Cavite.

“Just before I left my office, I signed a dismissal order of the secretary-general of Housing. A certain Millar,” he said in his speech.

“Binasa ko ‘yung resume kanina, tinitingnan ko ‘yung termination (I read the resume, I looked at the termination), I knew what a deep s*** the guy has created for… Valedictorian in low class and everything. But I don’t know,” he added.

Duterte said as a former public prosecutor and Davao City mayor for 23 years, he had witnessed how corruption “creeps in” along the way.

“And mahirap talaga. (And it’s really difficult). You know when you are there, secretary-general, you have the power, you have the authority. You can do corruption and it can corrupt you, give you a little or it corrupts you absolutely. So, power corrupt is a — and sometimes it is really you want your money to go to your pocket almost every day,” he said.

In a press statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte’s sacking of Millar “takes effect immediately.

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“There are no sacred cows in the administration, especially in its drive against corruption. As the President said, he will not tolerate even a whiff of corruption in the executive branch of government,” Panelo said.

“We assure the public that the delivery of public services shall unimpededly continue, especially in rehabilitating Marawi City and other affected areas,” he added.

Millar was dismissed four days after the Palace announced the removal of three undersecretaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Duterte terminated the appointments of Undersecretary for Protective Programs Mae Fe Templa, Undersecretary for Promotive Programs Maria Lourdes Turalde-Jarabe, and Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group Hope Hervilla.