Vacate Your Posts, Duterte to Presidential Appointees

In a press conference early Sunday morning, 1 am of August 21, the President announced, “On Monday, I would declare all positions in the government… If you are there because of a presidential appointment, I will declare all your positions all throughout the country vacant.”

“Until now, in my provincial visits, I still here corruption being committed by people, especially in the regulatory agencies,” Duterte explained.

All presidential appointees were directed to submit their courtesy resignations within seven days to give President Rodrigo Duterte a free hand in his effort to curb corruption in the bureaucracy. The directive was contained in a memorandum circular issued Monday and signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

The President had pointed to the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that had been in his list of most corrupt agencies. Duterte urged one LTFRB official to “come to me and see me in Malacañang.”

“The LTO and those who are appointed to that positions of LTO except the career, consider your positions vacant as of this hour. All of them… lahat (all). It will number in thousand. Consider yourself in the crucible of truth about corruption in this country,” he said. “If I go there everyday, I would not have time to be President and sit there and make crucial decisions for the country,” he followed.

The vacated posts will be filled with next-in-rank officers until new replacements are found. “There are the assistants, there’s always a deputy or even the first clerk, they can take over until such time I decide whether I will dispose of you or not,” he said.

Malacañang released Memorandum Circular No. 4 stating that “all presidential appointees [should] tender their unqualified courtesy resignations within seven calendar days.” The memorandum mentioned that failure to tender his or her courtesy resignation may be held administratively liable and given the appropriate penalty. In a media briefing, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified that the order does not cover the appointees under the current administration. ●