President Rodrigo Duterte announced his decision to fire Manuelito Luna as commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on Friday night, a day after Luna asked the National Bureau of Investigation to check into Vice President Leni Robredo’s fund-raising activities for front-liners in the battle against COVID-19.
Luna said he did it in his “personal capacity as a taxpayer,” accusing Robredo of “undermining” the efforts of government agencies leading the fight against the new coronavirus disease.
Luna added that Robredo’s offer of free shuttle services, dormitory facilities and daily sets of protective gear for health workers should be subject to scrutiny by the Commission on Audit. Other PACC officials quickly distanced themselves from Luna’s announcement, saying his move did not have the commission’s imprimatur.
No one in the PACC was asking for a probe on Robredo’s activities, they huffed. Luna, however, maintained that he was only being consistent since he had also asked that Robredo be investigated for similar fund-raising activities for Mindanao earthquake victims months earlier.