If Duterte’s so proud of firing corrupt officials, why hire them?

Supporters of the Philippine president make a virtue of how many people he has fired from his administration, claiming it reflects a no-nonsense approach. Critics say the nonsense is that he hired them in the first place

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Rodrigo Duterte, right, with Isidro Lapena, second from right, in 1997. Duterte recently reassigned Lapena from his role of customs chief after he allowed a drug shipment valued at 11 billion pesos (US$331 million) to slip into Manila. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 19 Nov 2018Updated: 12:05pm, 19 Nov 2018

A foreign secretary who turned out to be a foreigner; a justice secretary who cleared a drug criminal who had already confessed; a tourism secretary who kicked millions in fat contracts back to her brothers; a labour undersecretary who stole a congressman’s mobile phone.

When Rodrigo Duterte became the president of the Philippines two years ago, his subordinates bragged about how he would pack his administration with “the best and the brightest”. The problem is, he can’t seem to find them.

A third of the way into his six-year term, Duterte has already dismissed more than 30 high-ranking appointees, at least six of them cabinet rank, largely because of corruption, partly due to incompetence, sometimes because of both. As Bobby Brillante, spokesperson of the political support group Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte National Executive Coordinating Council, puts it: “The turnover is indeed unusual”. Brillante traces it to the president’s “frustration with people he appointed and expected to perform with competence, honesty and integrity”.

Just last month, Duterte relieved all the officers of the Bureau of Customs and kicked its chief Isidro Lapeña – an old crony – upstairs to a harmless cabinet post in charge of technical and vocational education. Lapeña had allowed a drug shipment valued at 11 billion pesos (US$331 million) to slip into Manila.

Failed to deliver: Peter Laviña, Duterte’s former campaign spokesman. Photo: EPA

It’s a far cry from what the administration promised. Just days after the election, when unofficial returns showed Duterte had won, his campaign spokesman Peter Laviña said: “What is important is getting people who can deliver.”

Ironically, Laviña himself was among the first to be sent packing in disgrace. In November 2016, Duterte rewarded him with the title of administrator of the National Irrigation Authority. Five months later, having barely warmed his seat, he was summarily asked to resign. One account said the president was enraged after hearing how Laviña had allegedly demanded commissions on projects (one report said 40 per cent) from contractors.