4,000 government posts still waiting to be filled

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte is halfway through his six-year term but he still has to make at least 4,000 appointments and fill vacant positions in several government agencies.

“Would you believe it? Meron pang mga bakante ngayon, marami (There are many vacancies). But you know I am one – maybe because of my training as a lawyer – that before I sign I have to read, and it takes time just reading the voluminous papers,” Duterte said in the Give Us This Day program of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Name congregation yesterday.

Duterte also said he always has questions about the integrity of a person before he signs appointment papers.

The President said documents that come to him with marginal notes or initials of officials that have supposedly reviewed them “does not mean anything to me. I have to just really ponder on the papers. Sometimes sleep on it and decide after a few hours of sleep early morning.”

Meanwhile, there could be minor changes in the Cabinet in the next weeks, an official said yesterday.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte mentioned the possible movements in the official family during the latest Cabinet meeting this month.

Duterte revealed that he is considering appointing a former soldier as new agriculture chief.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol will leave his department soon to lead the Mindanao Development Authority, a post with Cabinet rank.

“Ah, scouting around. I assume maybe again a military man. It’s easy to give them orders. They work. And they do it without question,” Duterte also said in his interview with Quiboloy. – With Alexis Romero