President Rodrigo Duterte wished he could have the same power with his friend Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, whom he believed stopped one of the major earthquakes that hit Mindanao in October, to stop corruption in the government.
“I wished that I could have the same power to stop graft just by telling corrupt individuals to do so,” the President said during the launching of a hotel in Davao City on Friday night.
“I believe in Pastor Quiboloy when he said that ‘stop’. It stopped, what’s the trouble? Stop it! It was a coincidence that the earthquake stopped,” Duterte said.
“If I can only have that power against corrupt [people] to stop because you know that here, the Filipinos, you cannot stop [them],” he added.
Earlier, Duterte said he would fire any government official found guilty of irregularities, following reports that two of his Cabinet men were being investigated by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.
READ: 2 Cabinet men face Duterte’s ax
The President said he learned about the PACC investigation but stressed that the Cabinet officials should be accorded due process.
Duterte made the statement after PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said the PACC has submitted its findings and recommendations to the Office of the President about the two Cabinet members.
But the PACC official also refused to divulge the identity of the Cabinet secretaries, pending results of the investigations.
The religious leader from Mindanao, who claimed to be the anointed son of God, claimed to stop the spate of earthquakes that hit parts of Mindanao in October, adding the public should thank him for “stopping” one of the earthquakes.
Speaking at the opening of the Acacia Hotel Davao here Friday, Duterte said the processing of documents in the government remained prone to corruption.
Some bureaucrats and government officials, he said, were still using their position to bilk money from the transacting public, especially investors who are trying to comply with regulatory requirements for their businesses.
Duterte said: “They [investors] are afraid of venturing into business because these politicians ask for money. Sometimes they want to be partners.
“They demand money before you have the conversion or before they will approve or allow a certain project.”
He also urged victims to come out into the open so that “they can even personally talk to me to address their concerns.”
“You can come to Malacañang to complain. It is open 24 hours a day. You tell the guards to wake me up. I will call that official in your presence,” he said.
Duterte also advised the public to be assertive if they were being asked for something.
Despite its admission that corruption is difficult to beat, the Duterte administration has established measures to discourage corruption in the bureaucracy.
For instance, the President signed the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 to further create an environment conducive to business.
“We remain committed [to] enforcing measures to provide [a] conducive environment to encourage more business development. The government will pursue policies and programs to fight corruption,” he said.
Noting that his term would end in two years, Duterte called on the “corruption victims” to come out so he could address the matter immediately.
“I am a man in a hurry. I have only two years left,” he said. With PNA