PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte vowed to crack down on corruption in government and pledged to fire even his own appointees who are tainted with corruption.
“In the coming days, I’m going to fire additional people whom I have appointed in government. There are many of them, I’m still trying to figure out how it was done,” Duterte told soldiers in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday.
“This is my warning to those in the government: whether you are a director or [career executive service officer] or [even] civil service eligible, I’m telling you stop it. At least for six years while I’m still sitting in office,” he said.
“Corruption will stop and it will stop. I am telling you I will put a stop to it,” he added.
The night before Duterte made the same warning and urged businessmen to help in the fight against corruption by discouraging the corrupt practices in their transactions with government offices.
“Help me minimize or do away with corruption. I support you, but you have to help me. You have to be assertive. Don’t give,” he told members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other business groups in Cebu.
He was referring to paying off government workers to avoid or to go around the red tape in government processes.
He also urged Cebuano businessmen to identify corrupt government officials every time they attempt to extort money for government services.
Among the government agencies he mentioned in his speech were the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Internal Revenue, all of which have been tainted with allegations of corruption over the years.