MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday praised the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for collecting P585 billion last year.

“Bureau of Customs, though corruption-ridden, managed to collect P585 billion in 2018,” Duterte during in his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona).

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“Imagine what more could have been collected if the BOC had been clean and less corrupt,” he added.

The President earlier ordered the dismissal of 63 Customs employees over allegations of corruption.

He said he wants the Customs personnel to be transferred to Congress to do “paperwork.”

“If I cannot dismiss them for the reason there is a security of tenure, I will just allow them to have their plantilla positions but they have to report to Congress every day to help me in the huge paperwork that we have to do every day,” he said.

Hails Pagcor’s Andrea Domingo

During his Sona, which lasted for one and a half hour, Duterte also lauded the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) for collecting billions of pesos in revenue.

Collections from Government-owned and -controlled Corporations reached P61 billion, of which P16 billion came from Pagcor.

“My salute to Andrea Domingo…Magpasugal ka pa ng marami,” he said.

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