President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday announced the dismissal of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Secretary-General Falconi Millar following the corruption allegations against him.
“You know, when you are secretary-general, you have the power, you have the authority; you can do corruption and it can corrupt you a little or corrupt you absolutely,” Duterte said during the inauguration of the Cavite Gateway Terminal in Tanza.
Millar denied the corruption allegations and described Duterte’s termination order as a “demolition job.”
“It is an obvious demolition job. In protecting the interest of the government, I have annoyed some personalities. I filed my resignation this morning. It is the government’s loss, not mine,” Millar said in a statement.
“I urge the government to dig deeper and investigate the persons behind the demolition job,” said Millar who was sworn into office in September 2017.
Duterte did not elaborate on the alleged corruption cases against Millar, but he signed the order dismissing him before he left Malacañang on Thursday to attend the event in Cavite.
“I was reading the resume’ earlier. Valedictorian in law class and everything, but I don’t know,” Duterte said, adding that somewhere along the way corruption “creeps in.”
“I am having a hard time combating corruption, please do not make it really very hard for me to do it,” Duterte said.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said there were no sacred cows in the Duterte administration and that Duterte would not tolerate even a whiff of corruption in the government.
He said Millar’s dismissal would take effect “immediately” but the Palace has yet to issue his termination letter.
He assured the public that the rehabilitation efforts in Marawi City would continue despite Millar’s dismissal.
Millar also serves as the head of Task Force Bangon Marawi, the inter-agency body in charge of Marawi’s rehabilitation.
“We assure the public that the delivery of public services will continue, especially in rehabilitating Marawi City and other affected areas,” Panelo said.