PNOC-EC chief sacked over ‘idiotic contract’

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has fired the chief of the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) for drafting an “idiotic contract” on his own and then having it approved by the PNOC-EC board of directors.

In a speech at the Manila Hotel on Thursday night, the President confirmed that he had sacked the president of the PNOC-EC, whom he did not refer to by name.

Earlier this week, Malacañang said Mr. Duterte asked for the resignation of PNOC-EC chief executive officer and president Pedro Aquino Jr., citing the President’s loss of confidence in him.

READ: BREAKING: Duterte fires PNOC Exploration Corp. head

“I just fired yesterday the … a subsidiary of PNOC. It’s a company. Here is a guy who prepared a contract with the Russians and the Russians thought that it’s all there is to it,” Mr. Duterte said on Thursday.

Mr. Duterte said the PNOC-EC official wanted “the board of directors to ratify your idiotic contract.”

“There are many like that. You cannot completely fathom the ways of corruption,” he said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed that the President had sought Aquino’s resignation and a member of the PNOC-EC board of directors for “loss of confidence.”