Assistant Secretary Alegre resigns from DOT

Tourism Assistant Secretary Ricky Alegre on Tuesday resigned from his post, citing "unforeseen circumstances" within the Department of Tourism (DOT) as reason.

In his resignation letter dated May 15, 2018 and addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte, Alegre said he resigned to give the President and newly appointed Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat "a free hand to determine who would be allowed to continue to serve" in the DOT.

Alegre, who was appointed to his post in September 2016, said he tried to serve the DOT "to the best of my abilities."

"However, because of unforeseen circumstances, I feel it necessary to tender this resignation because we all just definitely serve at the pleasure of the President," he said.

Alegre tendered his resignation on the same day Romulo-Puyat, who replaced Wanda Teo, asked all DOT undersecretaries and assistant secretaries  to submit courtesy resignations.

The DOT has at least 10 assistant secretaries and undersecretaries.

Duterte appointed Romulo-Puyat to the post last week following the resignation of Teo, who was embroiled in the controversial P60-million tourism ad payments to her brother's media entity. —KBK, GMA News