Restore DOJ’s ‘dignified image’, Duterte orders new DOJ chief

Former Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra takes his oath before President Rodrigo Duterte as the new justice secretary on April 5, 2018.  (Palace Photo)

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered newly-installed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to bring back the “dignified image” of the Department of Justice (DOJ) amid controversies hounding the agency.

“The President told me to bring back the DOJ’s dignified image,” Guevarra, a former Senior Deputy Executive Secretary at the Office of the President, told reporters in a text message on Friday.

Duterte appointed Guevarra on Thursday as the new DOJ chief following his acceptance of former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s resignation.

Duterte revealed in a speech at the Palace that he had accepted Aguirre’s resignation as Malacañang had earlier said the President was displeased by the DOJ’s decision to dismiss the drug complaint against alleged high-profile drug lords.

A DOJ panel had earlier dropped the drug complaint against self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, alleged drug lord Peter Lim, and several others – a move that was seen as a setback on the government’s so-called war on drugs.

READ: Duterte names Menardo Guevarra as justice secretary

Guevarra said he was “overwhelmed” with the President’s confidence in him.

“The President seldom sees me, yet he entrusts such a sensitive position to me. I’m overwhelmed with such confidence,” he said.

Mr. Duterte administered the oath of office to Gueverra also on Thursday, immediately after signing his appointment paper. /kga