DICT official says ex-boss Salalima misquoted on 'corruption and interference' claim

An undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Friday that former ICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima was misquoted regarding his claim that he resigned because of "corruption and interference" at the department.

"Na-misquote si Sec. Salalima. He did not say he left because of interference and corruption. He just mentioned in a letter he read to us during that emergency meeting that there were some cases of interference that may lead to corruption,"," ICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Makati City.

Salalima, who tendered his resignation late September, told employees of the DICT that he cannot deal with "corruption and interference" thus he resigned.

Rio noted that in Salalima's resignation letter to the President, the former DICT chief reported that there were some "attempts" to interfere with the business of the department.

"So, attempts lang talaga ... but he did not say there is actual interference in his work," Rio said.

However, he did not elaborate about those who attempted to interfere and in what way. "I could not say, of course, because only Sec. Salalima knows exactly what those are," Rio noted.

President Rodrigo Duterte has belied Salalima's supposed claim of having resigned because of corruption and interference. — VDS, GMA News