Recently appointed secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Menardo Guevarra confirmed on Monday, April 30, that he has ordered all department undersecretaries and assistant secretaries to submit their unqualified courtesy resignations to President Rodrigo Duterte.
This is necessary, Guevarra said, for him to have “a free hand to perform the mandate given to him by the President”.
Undersecretaries Antonio Kho, Erickson Balmes, Raymund Mecate, Reynante Orceo, and Deo Marco; and Assistant Secretaries Adonis Sulit, Juvy Manwong, George Ortha II, Moslemen Macarambon, Sr., Cheryll Yañgot, Sergio Yap II, and Margaret Padilla, who were all a part of former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s team, have all submitted their resigned.
Balmes, Kho, and Mecate confirmed submission of their resignation earlier than others.
Guevarra stressed that until the President acts on the courtesy resignation, DOJ officials could continue to perform their duties subject to changes that he might deem proper.
Guevarra, who took over the DOJ after Aguirre’s resignation, said the president instructed him to “bring back the DOJ’s dignified image.”
Aguirre resigned after the president expressed his dismay over the former’s decision to clear drug lords Kerwin Espinosa and Peter Lim, among others, of drug-related charges.
