Duterte warns corrupt execs: Just leave

President Rodrigo Duterte warned erring public servants again to just leave their posts quietly, as he stressed that he would not let up in his anticorruption campaign.

The President claimed he would rather not insult civil servants and that they should have the sense to just resign if they were engaged in graft and corruption.

‘Have the sense to resign’

“Those involved in corruption, just leave. Well, I’ll give you time. But those who are into it now, in government, published or otherwise, may you have the sense just to tender the resignation,” he said.

The President made the remarks in his speech on Friday at the 37th Principals Training and Development and National Board Conference Program in Davao City.

He said he won the 2016 presidential elections because he was “the only one carrying the message that was appropriate at that time” — his anticorruption and antidrugs stance.

Not fond of insulting

The President said he did not want to insult civil servants so as to spare their families from embarrassment.

He said he preferred to call the attention of erring government officials quietly, instead of publicly calling them out.

“I am not fond of really insulting people in government. You’d never see me insult someone in public. I’ll call you and scold you privately,” he said.

He recalled his days as Davao City mayor, when he preferred to let off erring public servants with a warning not to do the offense again, especially if he saw the person’s wife or children with him.