As part of the housecleaning efforts in the bureaucracy, President Duterte is mulling to dismiss personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who have been suspended for committing irregularities.
In a televised address Monday night, the President asked Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista to submit the suspension orders of the concerned personnel so he can review their documents and determine their dismissal from service.
Duterte made the statement after reading the list of eight DSWD officials either suspended or dismissed for various offenses during his remarks aired on live television.
The offenses include inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of duty, serious dishonesty, grave misconduct, and disgraceful and immoral conduct.
“I will ask for the papers, ipa-forward sa opisina ko sa Pasig River diyan. I will terminate them,” he said.
“I am asking the DSWD General Bautista to send me the papers. I will try to review and baka i-overhaul ko kayo at I will decide to dismiss them,” he added.
Before identifying the DSWD personnel, the President said he was still “in the provinces of cleansing (the) government.”
The President earlier promised to step up the anti-corruption drive in the remainder of his term. Duterte, who will end his six-year term in 2022, has already directed the Department of Justice to conduct a sweeping probe on alleged anomalies in government and prosecute those involved.
