Aguirre to corrupt DOJ personnel: Leave while you still can

Buoyed by his confirmation by the Commission on Appointments (CA) last week, Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday renewed his vow to cleanse the Department of Justice (DOJ) of corrupt personnel.

Speaking at the agency's weekly flag-raising ceremony, Aguirre said his "humbling and enlightening" experiences in the confirmation hearings inspired him to make the DOJ better.

Aguirre recently had to face opposition from Senator Antonio Trillanes IV at the CA following his alleged involvement in the P50-million bribery scandal at the Bureau of Immigration and the supposed authorization of special privileges for high-profile inmates.

The justice chief, however, was still able to clinch the nod of the CA, a powerful body composed of 25 congressmen and senators.

Following his confirmation, Aguirre threw a shade at unnamed critics, especially those "who remain to be recalcitrant and headstrong in their disobedience to the reforms we are introducing."

"I am so sorry to have thwarted your efforts to block my confirmation and to cause my removal. I am sorry to have disappointed you. You will continue to be disappointed," he said.

He reiterated that he will continue to serve for as long as he has the trust and confidence of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"And I have no intention of breaking that trust nor eroding that confidence," he said.

Aguirre then advised the "discontented, misguided and dissenters" to either resign or "cooperate and to reform before it is too late."

"It will be better for you to leave while you still can. By this time, you already know that I am a man of my word, I do what I promised and I do not say that lightly," he said.

Aguirre said he will not hesitate to utilize all the powers and the prerogatives of his office to go after corrupt DOJ personnel. "You will get the full measure of the well deserved repayment for your wrongdoings," he said.

"I enjoin everyone to join me and to help me fulfill these promises. I once asked of all of you to walk beside me as we strive to better the DOJ, I reiterate that invitation once more," he said.

Aguirre bared last November a supposed plan to oust him by "some disgruntled" employees after he had reassigned two top prosecutors outside Metro Manila.

The justice chief, however, denied claims that the prosecutors were being targeted whimsically and capriciously. —KBK, GMA News