MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte denied Monday night a report claiming that Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero is on his way out of the agency, saying he is still satisfied with the work of the former military chief.
“We are just shooting the breeze who are the capable guys to handle…But I’m satisfied with General Guerrero. He stays there,” Duterte told reporters after a visit to the Philippine Marine Corps at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
A news report earlier claimed that Duterte had offered the Customs chief’s post to special envoy to China, William de Jesus Lima, during a dinner in Malacañang.
Guerrero admitted he was surprised upon reading the report while Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, meanwhile, denied the claim and said that the President never mentioned the supposed plan to replace Guerrero.
The BOC is an attached agency of the finance department.
Duterte said Guerrero still has work to do in the bureau, including the internal cleansing he has ordered him to carry out.
“There are still some complaints so I’ll talk to him lalo na ‘yung mga tao na sinabi ko paalisin na niya, [about those people I asked him to fire] some of them are (still) lingering there,” Duterte said.
“So sabihin ko kay Jagger, ‘alisin mo na ‘yan kasi ‘yan ‘yung mga tao who have been there 35 years, 25 years puro kurapsyon ang ginawa.”
(I’ll ask him to remove those people who have been there for 25 or more years but did nothing but corruption.)