MANILA, Philippines — To teach them a lesson, President Duterte wants the entire administrative section he tagged for corruption activities at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to remove the waterlilies in Pasig River.
Duterte said he would direct 64 Customs employees who are set to be sacked to gather waterlilies to allow his barge to cross smoothly from the Bahay ng Pagbabago to Malacañang.
The President uses the barge to reach the Palace to avoid traffic on his way to work.
“Yesterday, tinanggal ko sa trabaho ang entire administrative section ng Customs (I fired the entire administrative section of Customs), 64 of them. Sabi ko mag-report sila (I told them to report in Malacañang),” the President said in a speech during the Thanksgiving Day for OFWs at the Lapu-Lapu Grandstand at Camp Aguinaldo last night.
BOC sources, however, said there is still no order for the relief of the 64.
“Yang Customs na yan. Napuno na ako. Sabi ko umalis kayong lahat. Ang iniwan ko lang si Jagger (That Customs. I’m tired of it. I told them to all get out. I just left Jagger),” he said, referring to Customs chief Leonardo Guerrero.
“May nagbulong sa akin, ‘gusto mo matigil talaga ang corruption? Tanggalin mo lahat.’ Tinanggal ko lahat (Someone whispered to me, ‘you really want to stop corruption? Fire them all.’ So I fired all of them),” the President said.
Duterte recalled that when he was mayor of Davao City, he would not hesitate to punish erring drivers and corrupt officials.
While President, he had punched some corrupt officials after he confronted them in the Palace.
He said a government undersecretary did not escape his wrath during one such confrontation.
At the same event borne out of the Philippine National Police’s Global Communications Relations Project, Duterte also assured overseas Filipino workers that the government is working hard to protect their welfare.
He said he would appoint more police attachés in some countries abroad so that OFWs can reach the police immediately in their localities if they have problems back home.
Duterte urged the labor department led by Secretary Silvestre Bello III to work with Congress for the immediate creation of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers by December.
He also called on the OFWs to be more assertive to deter corruption and abuse.
Duterte announced that he would earmark funds for the construction of an OFW Hospital in Nueva Ecija and modernize its operations.