• Pres. Duterte to rid of corrupt gov’t agencies
• President Duterte nixes Martial Law amid country’s illegal drugs problem

Speaking before a gathering of local officials at the Sulong Pilipinas local governance series held in Lanang on Tuesday (Sept.20), PRRD issued the pronouncement following his appointment of former police general Jose Jorge Corpuz as chairperson of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, which he said tops the list of government agencies being bled dry by corrupt officials.

He said he has tasked Corpuz to conduct a top-to-bottom overhaul of the PCSO and weed out scalawags in the agency found to be engaged in nefarious activities in connivance with other government officials.

PRRD said that with the installation of Corpuz as the new PCSO chief, he’s optimistic that the agency will be brought back on track.

“I hope things will improve. But sinabi ko you have to make a study. If I am not satisfied that it can really prevent corruption, I will recommend the abolition of the PCSO,” Duterte said.

He said similar problems have been plaguing the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“Itong sa Customs, BIR, it will be history. I am warning the people there, either you stop or you will become part of history,” the President said.

Meanwhile, President Duterte said that since he assumed office on June 30, he has consistently done the very things he promised during his campaign.

For the other major concerns like the economy, the President said he has picked the best people for the job.

“Nung nanalo ako, ‘yun lang ang issue ko. And of course I said, the economic factors would come in, if you have already set up the government. So I’ll just hire the best economic minds of the country to work for me,” he said.

As mayor of Davao City, PRRD successfully purged the city’s problem of drugs and crime. Now that he has become the President, he said he did not realize the extent of the damage the illegal drug trade has done to the country and how it has corrupted some members of the police and even government officials.

Realizing the threat, PRRD declared an all-out war against illegal drugs and utilized both the police and military in the government’s intensified campaign. In less than three months, the public has begun to see a remarkedly different landscape. PND

Speaking before the troops at the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, the President vowed to vigorously pursue his anti-illegal drug trade campaign even as he lamented that the illegal drugs problem has already seeped through the government system involving public officials, judges, politicians and police and the upper and lower echelons of the society.

“Paano ko makaya ito? Hindi ko naman ito mapadampot… Ayaw ko naman mag-Martial Law,” he said.

The President showed sheets of paper containing individuals allegedly involved in illegal drugs trade. He said 40 of them are judges while some are Chinese nationals.

He then rallied the soldiers to support his anti-illegal drugs drive saying that drug problem “is now all encompassing and it is destroying our nation.”

He noted that crime rate has reduced to the “barest minimum” by almost 49 percent.

The President urged the soldiers to continue their fight against illegal drugs even if the deeply-ingrained problem “outlast” him.

“If that problem outlast me for whatever reason, sinabi ko sa inyo at saka sa opisyal: Do not abandon your rank,” he ordered. PND