President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday continued his attacks on Senator Richard Gordon, who is leading a Senate investigation into questionable government contracts to buy overpriced face masks, face shields, and personal protective equipment (PPE).
In a recorded national address that aired Wednesday, Duterte said Gordon should step down as chairman and president of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).
Duterte said a law mandates the PRC to submit annual reports on its finances to the President, its honorary chairman. He said Gordon, chairman and CEO of the humanitarian organization, failed to do this.
“He has been with the Red Cross ever since I was a boy scout. Gordon, you are fond of investigating anomalies, corruption, but when it comes to the Red Cross, you’ve held on to it like it is your property for the longest time,” Duterte said in Filipino.
“You should be replaced, but you control it,” he said.
Gordon became chairman of PRC in 2004, when Duterte was already 59—too old to be a boy scout.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who is part of the PRC Board of Governors, said on Tuesday its officers are elected every two years.
He said he saw no reason for Gordon to step down, noting how he helped build up the country’s testing capacity for COVID-19 when the pandemic started.