Duterte to ERC officials: Don’t milk the government

Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Jose Vicente B. Salazar (center), shown in the agency’s website photo with Commissioners Geronimo D. Sta. Ana, Alfredo J. Non, Gloria Victoria C. Yap-Taruc and Josefina PatriciaM. Asirit, says that he respects the president’s call for their resignation and that he would “definitely take the appropriate actions that would protect the organization.”

“Don’t make the government a milking cow,” President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday as he threatened to abolish the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) if its commissioners would not resign.

“I have received word that the members of that body have refused to step down. I demanded that they all resign,” Duterte said in a speech shortly after arriving at the Davao City International Airport from his trips to Peru and New Zealand. “Kung away niyo, madali lang ‘yan. We will abolish the office. I will not give a single centavo. You can stay there forever.”

While in Peru, the President called for the resignation of the ERC officials following the suicide of Director Francisco Villa Jr., who had complained of corruption in the commission

But some ERC officials – Commissioners Alfredo J. Non, Gloria Victoria C. Yap-Taruc, Josefina M. Asirit and Geronimo D. Sta. Ana – defied Duterte, saying their resignation would not be in the best interests of the commission. /atm