Senator Panfilo Lacson said he is “disappointed” with how President Rodrigo Duterte failed to fulfill his promise of firing public officials even with a “whiff of corruption” lobbied against them amid the ongoing corruption scandal hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Malacañang reiterated Wednesday that Duterte will not fire President and CEO Ricardo Morales “unless there’s evidence.”
READ: Duterte needs evidence to fire PhilHealth chief Morales – Palace
Asked by ABS-CBN News Channel host Karen Davila whether he thinks that the president should be open to replace Morales “now”, Lacson said that Duterte just has to read the transcript of the Senate hearing into the corruption scandal hounding PhilHealth and focus on the responses of Morales and other PhilHealth officials called to the hearing.
“Sabi niya (Duterte) kasi noong araw, just a whiff of corruption—‘pag sinabi mong whiff, makaamoy ka lang—you’re fired,” Lacson said.
The former police chief-turned-senator stressed that what is happening in PhilHealth is “not just a whiff of corruption”.
“Of course, we do not question the authority of the President. Iyong hire-and-fire authority is always there, it’s his discretion… Pero ‘pag ganito namang may pandemya na pagkatapos ganyan ang maririnig natin, ewan ko kung hindi kayo ma-shock ,” he added.
“It goes without saying: I am disappointed,” Lacson said. “Do some remedial measures.”
A day before his ANC interview, Lacson reminded the president of his anti-corruption promise suggesting Duterte should “try whipping” corrupt officials of the beleaguered national health insurance agency.
Whiff of corruption? Try whipping of the corrupt in PhilHealth for a change and before all the people’s money is gone. And yes, make the beating really hard.
— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) August 5, 2020
During his first State of the Nation Address in 2016, Duterte, who ran a presidential campaign promising a more aggressive anti-corruption drive assured that his administration will be a “clean government”.
Duterte doubled down his anti corruption pledge saying during his 2017 SONA that he “will never tolerate corruption in my administration.”
“Not even a whiff of it. let the dismissal of several high-ranking officials whom I myself appointed serve as a warning to all that I will never back down on my commitment to cleanse this government,” he said. Rommel F. Lopez