In line with his zero tolerance policy for corruption, President Duterte has dismissed Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Secretary General Falconi Millar for alleged involvement in corruption.
The President announced that he signed the dismissal order of Millar, saying the Housing official was in “deep sh*t.”
“Just before I left my office, I signed a dismissal order ‘yung secretary-general ng Housing. A certain Millar. Binasa ko ‘yung resume kanina tinitingnan ko ‘yung termination, I knew what a deep s*** the guy has created,” Duterte said during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal in Tanza, Cavite Thursday.
“Valedictorian sa law class and everything but I don’t know…Somehow along the way…corruption creeps in,” he said.
Duterte, a former Davao City mayor, acknowledged that power can corrupt people.
“When you are their secretary general, you have the power, you have the authority. You can do corruption and it can corrupt you, give you a little or it corrupts you absolutely,” he said.
“That’s the sad story about this government,” he added, citing the irregularities uncovered in the military hospital and the Nayong Pilipino contract.
Millar was appointed by the President to the HUDCC post in September 2017. He previously served as Tourism undersecretary for oversight function for legislative matters.
Before the President’s speech in Cavite, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced that the termination of Millar’s service was “effective immediately.”
He maintained that there were “no sacred cows” in the administration amid the President’s campaign against corruption. “As the President said, he will not tolerate even a whiff of corruption in the Executive branch of government,” Panelo said.
“The Palace is announcing the termination of services of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Secretary General Falconi V. Millar due to allegations of corruption. The President’s order takes effect immediately,” he said. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
