Duterte fires NEA chief

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has fired National Electrification Administration (NEA) administrator Edgardo Masongsong for alleged corruption.

Duterte announced Masongsong’s termination in a taped speech aired Saturday.

“We’ve been talking about corruption. Alam mo may bago akong, the name is Edgardo Masongsong. He’s the administrator of the National Electrification Administration. I dismissed him from public service,” Duterte said.

The President said it was the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) that conducted the investigation and recommended that Masongsong be removed from office.

“[The] PACC conducted the investigation and made the recommendation for his dismissal. I have approved.”

Duterte said this is proof that they are trying to stop corruption throughout the bureaucracy.

“I’m sorry but I said people are very skeptic about our desire to improve government service. We do not claim to maybe really totally clean government at this time not even with another president,” Duterte said.

“Endemic ang corruption but from time to time, eto. I’m given the opportunity to show to the people again, we are not bragging about it but we are trying our best to cope u with the situation regarding graft and corruption in our government,” he went on.

The PACC earlier filed a case against Masongsong for supposedly allowing electric cooperatives to contribute funds for a party-list’s campaign in 2019.

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