President Rodrigo R. Dutere sacked National Electrification Administration (NEA) chief Edgardo Masongsong for his supposed involvement in graft.
During his public address last Friday, Duterte announced he accepted the recommendation of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to dismiss Masongsong.
“PACC conducted an investigation and made a recommendation for his dismissal. So I have approved,” Duterte said.
Last May, PACC filed a graft case against Masongsong before the Ombudsman for allegedly allowing electric cooperatives to contribute funds to the campaign of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association’s (Philreca) in 2019 polls.
PACC said the activity violates the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act and the Omnibus Election Code.
Masongsong denied the accusation and stressed no public funds were lost in the said decision by electric cooperatives.
Duterte said Masongsong’s dismissal is proof that his administration continues its campaign against corrupt government officials.
He issued the statement as the government is currently battered with reports of the Commission on Audit (COA), which flagged alleged irregularities in the operations of several government agencies, including the Department of Health (DOH).
Duterte defended DOH against COA’s report of its alleged deficiencies in the utilization of its P67.3 billion budget for its novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.
“The people must be informed and must realize that we are a working government and we do not claim to be graft-free. but we are trying our best [to achieve it],” Duterte said.