Cites corruption in LTO, LTFRB

President Rodrigo Duterte. Toto Lozano, Presidential Photographers Division.

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday expressed frustration over incompetent and corrupt government employees and officials.

Duterte said there is a need to ''purge'' the government of underperforming and corrupt officials but he realized that doing so won't be that easy.

''I think there is a need really to purge. I don’t want to transgress civil service rules and I don’t want to ignore due process, which I loathe to do, but apparently it is really hard to remove certain employees and officials who have been there,'' Duterte said.

''[Maybe we] need another set of workers to really to do the job."

Duterte said he would be playing tough on erring government employees as his appeal of maintaining a clean government ''is not registering at all in the grey matter of some."

''For those who are working, you have nothing to worry. I will be the least of your trouble,'' he said.

Duterte cited the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) as agencies where bad eggs are hard to remove.

Duterte said his appointees to the two transportation agencies are finding it hard to deal with corruption as reports of anomalies continue to come in from various regional offices.

''Itong LTFRB, pati LTO, there's still a tip. To think I placed General [Edgar] Galvante [to LTO] and [Martin] Delgra, whose competence and integrity are proven, they are still having a hard time overseeing their agencies under a central government set-up,'' Duterte said.

Duterte said he met with businessmen from Cagayan de Oro who complained that corruption still exists in these agencies.

''I suppose this is true throughout the country, except for some minor exceptions,'' Duterte said.

The tough-talking president has vowed to install a hotline where the public can raise complaints against non-performing government offices.

The president has warned government employees to perform well and not waste government resources.

In a related development, the Office of the President released Memorandum Circular No. 3 enjoining all government employees to strictly observe and comply with required working hours.