Dismissed Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno addresses DILG employees for the last time during a send-off program at the DILG-Napolcom Center on Thursday. (Photo by JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS / INQUIRER.net)
If President Rodrigo Duterte would tap former Sen. Ferdinandn “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to head the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), he would be making a wise decision.
So said outgoing Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno, who was dismissed over corruption allegations, amid rumors about the impending appointment of Marcos to the DILG.
“Maski sino (Anybody would be a), wise decision,” Sueno said in a new conference after the send-off program for him at the DILG-National Police Commission (Napolcom) Center on Thursday.
READ: Bongbong looms over vacant DILG post
Sueno divulged that the names of former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino and former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III were being floated for the DILG post.
But Sueno said he would vouch for Catalino Cuy, who had been tapped by Duterte to lead the agency pending the appointment of a permanent head.
“Napakagaling niyan. May integridad. Mas gusto ko siya because he can unite everyone,” he said.
(“He’s so good. He has integrity. I prefer him because he can unit everyone.”)
Cuy, a former chief of the Davao City Police Office and the Philippine National Police’s elite unit Special Action Force, is formerly the DILG undersecretary for public safety.
Sueno also dismissed speculations that his removal from office was a ploy to give way to Marcos.
“Hindi ko rin po alam ‘yan (I don’t know anything about that),” he told reporters.
Three DILG undersecretaries – John Castriciones for operations, Jesus Hinlo for public safety, and Emilie Padilla for legislative liaison and special concerns – accused Sueno of enriching himself while in office and entering into anomalous deals.
Castriciones, Hinlo, and Padilla relayed their grievance through a confidential letter to Malacañang.
Days after receiving the letter, Duterte told Sueno in a Cabinet meeting that he would want to dismiss him from the DILG.
Sueno vehemently denied that he was engaged in corrupt activities.
“I think he was misinformed,” he said. “He acted and decided on what he has read on the paper.”
Sueno said he was a “willing victim” not being given the due process and a chance to respond to the allegations.
“This is a big message from God to me na alis ka na dyan (to get out of there) before something serious happens to you,” he said. “So I think God loves me.” /atm/rga