Duterte to fire another chairman, set of policemen

President Rodrigo Duterte is going to fire another head of an office in government and another set of policemen.

"I am firing another chairman of an entity in government maybe this week and another set of mga policemen," Duterte said at an event of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

"I am in the thick of firing people. I intend to fire another maybe 70 or 49 policemen and three generals for corruption," he added.

The event was not open to the media, but the transcript of the President's speech was sent to Malacañang reporters Friday morning.

At a briefing in Valencia City, Bukidnon on Friday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte could make the announcement later in the day in one of his appointments including a media interview.

"What I do know is that he is scheduled to replace a chairman of a government-owned and -controlled corporation, but not really for graft, for other reasons. So it would appear that there is a second chairman who might be replaced because of graft," he said.

"It might be announced at four in this afternoon," Roque added.

Pres. Duterte at a PAGCOR event yesterday: I am firing another chairman of an entity in government maybe this week and another set of mga policemen. ????: Palace pic.twitter.com/k3ZRCQd5Dr

— Trisha Macas (@trishamacas) January 12, 2018

Duterte warned that he would not stop cleansing the government.

"This is really a purging regime. I think that I have been spending a lot of time just to clean up government. I would consume four years for the time that I would be there. Ayaw ko na lang mag-drama," he said.

"Lahat naman tayo ayaw ng corruption, ayaw ng mali," he added.

The President also urged PAGCOR employees to avoid corruption.

"Ang akin lang is I want to stress again the point that you can come in, expand, do business peacefully but please avoid graft and corruption whether you are the giver or the receiver," he said.

Earlier this month, Duterte fired Maritime Industry Authority administrator Marcial Amaro III over "excessive" trips, 24 foreign travels in a year and a half.

Other officials who were removed from their respective posts over different reasons were National Irrigation Administration administrator Peter Laviña, Office of the Cabinet Secretary Undersecretary Halmen Valdez, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, and Dangerous Drugs Board chairpersons Benjamin Reyes and Dionisio Santiago, as well as Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor chairperson Terry Ridon and other commissioners including Honeylet Avanceña's cousin. — RSJ, GMA News