President Rodrigo Duterte openly questioned former Interior Secretary Ismail “Mike” Sueno during Monday’s Cabinet meeting amid allegations that the latter was involved in corrupt activities.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, who shed light on the latest movement in the Duterte Cabinet, confirmed that Sueno’s dismissal was “a loss of trust and confidence” from the President.
Abella said the dismissal of one of the President’s close allies served as a warning that Duterte would not countenance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the Cabinet.
“I think we need to take into more serious account the implication of this thing that it was done in a sense publicly in front of all the Cabinet members. And also that the President has allowed a public explanation of the matter,” the Palace official said.
He said that Duterte has kept on repeating that one of the problems of the Philippines is that the Filipinos have lost trust in the government.
“But by addressing it so firmly and so with decisiveness, it just goes to show how deeply invested the President is in nation building,” he said.
When pressed on what really led to the dismissal, Abella said that “the President has done due diligence and so he has checked into the matter and apparently he has taken note of several legally untenable situations.”
He also refused to bare the details, saying only that “Duterte has apparently some insight into the situation.”
Sueno is the second major Cabinet official to be dismissed due to allegations of corruption.
Just last month, Peter Tiu Laviña, who served as Duterte’s campaign spokesman, was sacked as head of the National Irrigation Administration.
