President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday night he was confident he would never be implicated in corruption despite his “small” salary.
He said he had not signed any government contracts involving public funds.
“All Cabinet members would tell you I don’t allow papers, transactions involving money, especially public funds. They did not wait for my approval, nothing of that sort. It begins and ends with the Cabinet,” Duterte said during the launch of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s mobile app.
“Purchases, all, don’t bring it on my table,” Duterte said.
He made his comments after he had ordered the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to stop all its gaming operations due to alleged corruption.
“You can search wherever you want, I didn’t sign anything. I won’t be charged with graft and corruption,” he said.
Duterte also said his monthly salary of P200,000 as the country’s top government official was “small” because he had to split it for his two families.
He had married Elizabeth Zimmerman and had three children: Paolo, Sara, and Sebastian.
But he currently lives with his long-time partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña, and their youngest child Veronica.
Duterte also vouched for the character of the military men he had appointed in government.
Among them is Tesda Chief Isidro Lapeña.
“I don’t believe even for a moment he is corrupt…or else, he won’t be in the Cabinet,” Duterte said of Lapeña.
Duterte has reiterated he had appointed military men because they could quickly follow orders and were not inclined to do corrupt activities.
