{"id":243442,"date":"2020-01-29T20:32:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T01:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=243442"},"modified":"2020-01-29T20:32:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T01:32:13","slug":"no-sacred-cows-in-govt-duterte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/01\/29\/no-sacred-cows-in-govt-duterte\/","title":{"rendered":"No sacred cows in gov\u2019t: Duterte"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the inauguration of the 105-Megawatt Coal-Fired Power Plant Phase 2 of Sarangani Energy Corporation and the launch of the 14.5-Megawatt Hydropower Project of Siguil Hydro Power Corporation in Maasim, Sarangani Province on November 22, 2019. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 There will be no sacred cow in the fight against corruption in government, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Amid his intensified crackdown on rogue government officials and employees, Duterte renewed his vow that he has zero tolerance for corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi ko, wala talaga akong sasantuhin dito basta<\/em>\u00a0corruption,\u00a0basta<\/em>\u00a0corrupt (I said there will be no sacred cows in my fight against corruption. If you are corrupt, you will not be tolerated),\u201d Duterte said in a speech during the celebration of the 69th founding anniversary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Quezon City.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Pag pumunta sa akin iyang tao na iyan at mag<\/em>-complain, sorry, I will call you\u00a0sa opisina ko\u2026 Tawagan kita sa opisina ko at doon tayo sa opisina ko mag-usap<\/em>\u00a0(If someone goes to my office and make a complaint against you, sorry, I will call you to my office. I will summon you to my office and we will talk there),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s statement came following the release of Jan. 24 article published by American business magazine Forbes, which alleged that the Philippines is becoming a \u201cmore corrupt and less democratic state under President Rodrigo Duterte.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article, written by Panos Mourdoukoutas, reported that corruption and political oppression in the Philippines stay \u201cintact,\u201d supposedly preventing the country from \u201cdeveloping modern infrastructure, attracting foreign capital, lowering unemployment, sustain(ing) economic growth, and escap(ing) poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contrary to the report, Duterte said there is a need to stop corruption in government, adding that getting rid of erring public workers would improve the Philippine economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can do away with corruption, in about 10 years time, we will really jump,\u00a0parang<\/em>\u00a0(perhaps, we will have) a better economic situation.\u00a0Pero kung may<\/em>\u00a0corruption,\u00a0ah wala<\/em>\u00a0(But if corruption continues, there will be no progress),\u201d the Chief Executive said.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) chair Dante Jimenez told the Philippine News Agency that there was no truth to Forbes\u2019 report that the Philippines is turning into a \u201cmore corrupt\u201d state, stressing that Duterte\u2019s anti-corruption drive has so far become \u201cvery successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimenez, however, admitted that addressing corruption in government remains a challenge due to the \u201cslow\u201d justice system in the country.<\/p>\n

Duterte, in his latest speech, said that some government agencies such as the bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue, serve as a gateway to corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you\u00a0na yung<\/em>\u00a0corruption\u00a0diyan sa<\/em>\u00a0(that the corruption there in) Customs, BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), they\u2019re just pittance to the corruption being done upstairs in the highest echelons of government.\u00a0Totoo talaga. So iyan ang masakit sa akin<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s the truth. And it pains me),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President also said some workers in the government forged several agreements with private firms that are detrimental to the country.<\/p>\n

He cited the concession agreements with water firms Manila Water and Maynilad, which were respectively owned by Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Manuel V. Pangilinan, as among the deals that could be disadvantageous to the government.<\/p>\n

Duterte also took note of the state-run Light Rail Transit (LRT) Authority\u2019s existing contract with the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), which is a consortium of the Ayala-led AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Pangilinan-owned Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.<\/p>\n

The President also learned about the low payment of property developer Ayala Land Inc. to the University of the Philippines (UP) for the rental of Technohub property in Diliman, Quezon City.<\/p>\n

\u201cItong<\/em>\u00a0corruption\u00a0sa gobyerno, iyan talaga ang problema<\/em>\u00a0(The corruption in government is really a problem),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the dimension of how it was done. It\u2019s not merely in the water sector. It\u2019s in the LRT and some lands that were leased to them,\u201d Duterte added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 There will be no sacred cow in the fight against corruption in government, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated on Wednesday. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":238140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243443,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243442\/revisions\/243443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}