By John Rey Saavedra/PNA
CEBU CITY — Former members of the military and the police who have joined as “action men” in the administration on Sunday received a startling praise from President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The President said he tapped retired military and police officials not because he is afraid of them, but because of their haste in performing tasks assigned to them.
“Karon nangutana mo og ngano halos tanan miyembro sa militar ang akong gikuha. Gusto lang kong masabtan ninyo nga dili ingon nagpalakas ko kay nahadlok ko ani nilang mga polis ug militar (Now you are all wondering why most of the men I appointed are from the military. I want you to understand that it’s not because I’m trying to suck up to the military and police or that I am afraid of them),” said Duterte.
Duterte stressed that he does not need to be afraid of them because it was the people who chose him as their leader.
The Office of the President and the Cabinet need officials who could do immediate action on matters brought to them, he said.
“The problem with this is those who have worked in the government for a long time would understand this. The processing of papers is a very long process,” Duterte told the beneficiaries of unconditional cash transfer (UCT) in a ceremonial distribution at the Cebu Technological University (CTU).
Duterte was joined by Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista, a retired general who was former commanding general of the Philippine Army, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 (Central Visayas) regional director Rebecca Geamala and Land Bank First Vice President Delma Bandiola during the distribution of PHP2,500 cash grants to 1,500 UCT beneficiaries here.
The President noted that directors in the government who already have aged and are waiting for retirement are the ones who are lazy in their job.
“Kaning mga tiguwang nga director mga mo-retire na, tapulan. Usahay musulod. Pagbalik pagkaudto, moderetso na sa… Daghan na man mo’g mga mall, magsuroy-suroy (And the directors who have aged and who are about to retire are very lazy. Sometimes they come to work and by noon they’ll go to — you have plenty of malls here and other places you can visit for leisure),” he said.
“Balik pagka alas kwatro, dayo’g uli. Ang uban maghuwat nalang sa ilang kamatayon og dili mo-retire… Di mamalik og opisina unya og naa man galing, debatehon ka pa (They’ll go back to work by 4 p.m. and head home right away. While others are just waiting for their own death because they won’t retire… They don’t always go to the office and if they’re there, they’ll debate with you),” he added.
He said he does not mean to offend the bureaucracy of the government in hiring those former military men.
“The problem with our country is that we cannot wait anymore. And that’s the reason why I tap them. They know anyway that I will not order an illegal or unlawful order,” he said in Cebuano.
Duterte said once he asked these members of his administration to perform a task, they will perform right away.
“Ang counting nako sa ila by hours. Seventy-two hours is three days or I’ll give you… but usa ka buwan (I count by the hours. Seventy-two hours is three days or I’ll give you… one month),” he said.
He said he has “no patience for long processes.”
Aside from Bautista, other retired military officials in the Cabinet are National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año.
Before he filed his certificate of candidacy for senator for the May mid-term elections, former Philippine National Police chief Rolando “Bato” dela Rosa was Duterte’s trusted man in the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
Last year, Duterte appointed former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Rey Leonardo Guerrero as commissioner of the Bureau of Customs, replacing another military man, Isidro Lapeña.
Lapeña was transferred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority after the controversial discovery of PHP6.8-million shabu inside a magnetic lifter. He replaced another military man, former customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, who is now BuCor chief.
