Christina Mendez (The Philippine
Star) - October 19, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – In line with
his campaign against corruption, President Duterte said he fired Philippine National
Oil Co. Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC)) head Pedro Aquino Jr. for his
role in a questionable deal with a Russian firm.
“I just fired yesterday (an official
of the) subsidiary of PNOC, it’s a company. Here is a guy who prepared a
contract with the Russians, and the Russians thought that it – that was all
there is to it. ‘Yung gusto niya, wala naman pala siyang… He wanted now the
board of trustees to ratify what he prepared,” Duterte said.
During his speech at the 45th
Philippine Business Conference and Expo at the Manila Hotel on Thursday night,
Duterte said he confronted Aquino for prematurely negotiating a deal with a
Russian firm without the authorization of the board of directors and concerned
officials.
“Kaya sabi ko, ‘Adre, abogado ka?’
‘Yes.’ Sabi ko, ‘Ano ‘yung kalokohan mo na baliktad? Instead of you given
the power to draft, to prepare, to whatnot and then after that have it approved
by the board of directors,” he said.
“Baliktad ang gusto mo eh (What you
want is the opposite). Ikaw ‘yung contract and you want the board of directors
to ratify your idiotic contract,” Duterte said, recalling his confrontation
with Aquino who was reportedly summoned to Malacañang earlier this week over
the controversial deal.
The President mentioned the matter
to illustrate to businessmen how serious he has been in the fight against
government corruption.
He told the group that he would
entertain complaints related to corruption, particularly on the processing of
documents.?The incident came a few weeks after Duterte concluded his five-day
visit to Russia where he met with the officials of Rosneft, Moscow’s top oil
producer, whom the Chief Executive invited to invest in the Philippines.
Presidential spokesman Salvador
Panelo confirmed early this week that Aquino was forced to resign for loss of
confidence.
Last Thursday, Panelo said the
President had urged Rosneft to undergo proper processes if they want to
continue investing on oil and gas exploration in the country.
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