Duterte: ‘I fired another set of high officials’

President Rodrigo Duterte has made good on his promise to remove more officials said to be linked to corruption.

"I’m very sad to inform you that as of last week I fired another set of high officials," Duterte said in a speech during the mass oath-taking of new appointees in Malacañang on Tuesday.

Duterte did not provide names, hinting that these officials were among those "who went back and forth to" his home city of Davao to convince him to run for president in 2016.

"And para bang, 'Sige na mayor, tumakbo ka na kasi wala na tayong ibang kandidato...to repair the nation, to rehabilitate everything and to stop corruption," he said.

"I don’t want to nurture something that I would be suspicious of anybody in front of me. Ayaw ko sana ‘yung mawalaan ako ng bilib sa kaibigan o kakilala. I hate it because I know they meant well. But along the way, may papasok talaga na kalokohan ang p___," Duterte added.

The President has been bringing down the ax on high-ranking officials and heads of offices accused of corruption and abuse of power.

Among the officials Duterte has sacked were Terry Ridon as chairman of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, Peter Tiu Laviña as administrator of the National Irrigation Authority, Dionisio Santiago as chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board, and Mike Sueno as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In the same speech, the President disclosed that he has received a draft executive order on contractualization shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Duterte did not say if the document came from the Office of the President or if it was the one prepared by labor groups.

Ending contractualization was one of Duterte's promises during the 2016 election campaign, a vow Malacañang said the President "wants to deliver to the people very soon."— BM, GMA News