Drilon refutes Duterte: ‘I am not corrupt, my conscience is clean’

FILE PHOTO: Senator Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER/Edwin Bacasmas

MANILA, Philippines — Saying his “record is clear” and that his “conscience is clean,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday took exception to President Rodrigo Duterte’s corruption accusation against him.

“I am not corrupt…Since I joined the public service in 1986, I have faithfully adhered to the highest moral standards. I have strictly conducted myself within the standards embodied in the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and our anti-graft laws,” Drilon said in a statement.

“My record is clear and my conscience is clean. In my 32 years in public service – nine years in the executive and 23 years in the legislative – I have never been tried for corruption in the Ombudsman or Sandiganbayan,” he added.

In a taped public address aired on television earlier Wednesday, Duterte again made Drilon and Senator Richard Gordon the objects of his tirades, saying he would not be the country’s president if he is “corrupt like them.”

READ: I will not be president if I’m corrupt, Duterte tells Gordon, Drilon

“I have always endeavored to protect my family name. Aside from the laws that I have authored in my 23 years as a senator, all I want to leave a legacy when I retire from politics next year is my good name,” Drilon continued.

The Senate blue ribbon committee, chaired by Gordon, has been investigating the government’s purchases of medical goods, including allegedly overpriced face masks, shields, and other supplies, at the height of the pandemic last year.

During the course of the inquiry, senators have repeatedly questioned the Department of Health’s transfer of P42 billion to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management for the purchase of pandemic response supplies.

A portion of this amount went to over P8.6 billion worth of contracts awarded to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. Senators doubted the financial capacity of the firm since it was only established in 2019 with a small capital of P625,000 when it secured the supply deals.

READ: Duterte set to bar Cabinet men from Senate probe on pandemic purchase deals

READ: Mago absent as senators pound on PS-DBM ‘favoritism’

INQUIRER.net has reached out to Gordon for his comment on Duterte’s remark but has yet to receive a response as of writing.