Roque: Duterte to fire undersecretary this week

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday said an undersecretary will be axed by President Rodrigo Duterte later this week.

"Mayroon talagang [unsecretary] na scheduled para sibakin," Roque told Unang Balita when asked about Duterte's announcement on Tuesday that he has fired a set of "high officials."

Roque said he may reveal the name of the undersecretary in a press briefing in Malañang on Thursday.

Duterte's spokesman did not give a clue on the identity of the undersecretary.

Duterte had repeatedly said that a "whiff of corruption" is reason enough for him to fire an official even those who are close to him.

Meanwhile, Roque declined to comment on the reason behind the resignation of Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say.

Say said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III had accepted and submitted his resignation letter to the Office of the Executive Secretary.

He said he decided to resign to avoid giving the impression on the Labor department that it is "pro-management" because of his insistence on the provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines that allow contractualization.

Before Say, former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II resigned from his post. He was replaced by Menardo Guevarra, who previously held the post of deputy executive secretary. —ALG, GMA News