President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he was willing to accept the resignation of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III only if the latter does it voluntarily, as the chief executive rejected calls to fire the official.
Duterte made the remark following the revival of calls for Duque to resign after the Commission on Audit flagged the health department's management of COVID-19 pandemic response funds.
“Ngayon, kung si Duque will offer to resign voluntarily, tatanggapin ko pero kung sasabihin na ako magsabi sa kanya na mag-resign ka, that will never happen,” Duterte said in a meeting with the inter-agency task force on COVID-19 response.
“Maski kami na lang dalawa ni Duque and the rest of the Philippines, I will stand by him. ‘Pag nasira ako eh ‘di nasira. But, I will never abandon a person just like that," the President added.
Last week, President Duterte revealed that he had refused Duque's attempt to resign twice, maintaining that the health chief has done nothing wrong.
Duque courted criticism and was even branded as a "sadboi" by netizens after he aired his sentiments about the publication of the state auditors' 2020 report that flagged his department's failure to comply with regulations in its spending of P67 billion in pandemic funds. The COA has clarified that its report did not allege corruption in the DOH.
The health department had said that all of the flagged issues by COA are "accounted for" and that officials of the agency were willing to cooperate with any investigation