Duterte fires 2 Malacañang employees for influence-peddling

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

President Duterte said he had fired two Malacañang employees for influence-peddling, stressing that his administration would not tolerate corruption.

Malacañang on Friday said it could not publicly name the two “until concerned parties are properly informed.”

Mr. Duterte bared the dismissals in his speech on Thursday at an agriculture event at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

He did not specify what offense the two committed.

In a video posted by Assistant Communications Secretary Mocha Uson on her Facebook page, the President said he dismissed the two employees for “using their influence.”

“They were employees and saying a lot of things outside, that they were powerful. I hate that,” he said.

In his speech, Mr. Duterte recalled that he had fired Cabinet members who had been linked to alleged corruption.

He encouraged the public to report corruption to the 8888 complaint hotline or direct to Malacañang and he would protect them.

Mr. Duterte’s latest statement that he would not tolerate corruption came amid an Ombudsman investigation of his and his family’s bank accounts based on the complaint by his archcritic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that they had hidden wealth.

He has denied the allegation and said the evidence against him was illegally obtained.

The President also threatened to investigate alleged corruption in the antigraft agency and to file an impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

He later created the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.