Corrupt government officials will not be given a second chance, according to President Rodrigo Duterte who recently reappointed some officials he dismissed due to suspicion of irregularities.
“‘Pag nagkamali ka (If you make a mistake), I won’t give you a second chance. No f****** second chance because I do not own this government,” Duterte said in a speech during the 81st anniversary of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Tuesday, June 19.
Duterte reiterated his campaign promise to “control corruption,” noting that he has already fired several of his appointees.
“I have fired so many undersecretaries and secretaries and most of them, ‘yung mga (those) minor, were then my companions in the city mayor’s office in 1988,” the President said.
“It pains me deeply to do it pero sinabi ko na, sinabi ko sa inyo, ‘Huwag. Huwag na huwag (I have already told you, ‘Do not. Do not ever do it’),” he continued.
He then warned that there will be more dismissals to come, stressing that he did not care if his whole term would be “characterized by a firing and dismissal of people from government.”
“Ayaw ko talaga ‘yan (I do not really like that). And give us — give the Filipino a respite of corruption,” he said.
Fired gov’t officials reappointed
Despite his latest pronouncement, some sacked officials whose names were dragged into corruption scandals were given another shot in government service by the President.
Among them is Jose Gabriel “Pompee” La Viña, who was appointed by Duterte to the Department of Agriculture (DA) as undersecretary on June 6.
Prior to his appointment to the DA, La Viña first served as a member of the Social Security Commission (SSC) in November 2016; however, the President decided not to renew his appointment to the agency due to corruption allegations. Two months later, Duterte gave him another post as undersecretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
[READ: Duterte appoints DOT Usec Pompee La Viña to Agriculture department]
On June 7, former Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) commissioner Manuel Serra Jr., who was fired in December 2017, was also named by Duterte as a member of the Philippine Coconut Authority governing board.
Serra was fired along with other PCUP officials — PCUP chairman Terry Ridon, and commissioners Joan Lagunda, Noe Indonto, and Melissa Avanceña Aradanas — over alleged junkets and failure to hold meetings.
[READ: Duterte reappoints fired PCUP commissioner Manuel Serra to another post]
Aside from Serra, Ardanas, who is the cousin of Duterte’s common-law partner Honeylet Avanceña, was also named as deputy commissioner at the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council last March.
Duterte was earlier slammed by his critics, saying that the President ‘recycles’ officials reportedly involved in anomalies in the government.
However, the Palace defended the Chief Executive, saying that the reappointment of axed public officials was an “exception of the rule.”