Rody: Military men follow orders; civilians are lazy

Unlike civilians, military personnel know how to follow orders quickly, which is why he has been recruiting many of them in his administration, according to President Duterte.

Speaking before scout rangers in Bulacan on Thursday, Mr. Duterte said that based on his experience, it was difficult to get civilian workers to carry out instructions.

“I’m not trying to, you know, derogate the other employees of government. But these civilians, they’re so difficult to give orders to. ‘Tapolan’ in Bisaya, lazy. You can’t get them to move quickly, especially during times of emergency,” he said.

This was why there are military and police officials in his official family, he said.

One of his most recent appointees from the military was Retired Maj. Gen. Alexander Balutan, the new general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

Mr. Duterte said he had a hard time looking for someone to head the PCSO, which, according to him, was abused by syndicates and gangsters. The state-run lottery operations were used for the illegal numbers game “jueteng” during the previous administration, he said.

He said he could not find a new PCSO chief in the civilian sector “because I doubted their integrity and everything.”

This was what led him to Balutan, a former Marine general.

Balutan was supposed to head the Bureau of Corrections, but the President said he changed his mind because he wanted a “berdugo” (executioner) who would clean up the PCSO as it was losing billions of pesos a year in taxes that could have benefited Filipinos. TVJ