Duterte says he'll accept Duque's resignation but will never fire him

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he will accept an offer from Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to resign but stressed that he will "never" fire the official.

Duterte said this amid fresh calls of the public to replace Duque as the country's top health official, following audit reports of alleged deficiencies in the use of funds for COVID-19 response.

"Ngayon, kung si Duque will offer to resign voluntarily tatanggapin ko pero kung ako magsabi sa kanya magresign siya, that will never happen," Duterte said in his weekly Talk to the People.

However, Duterte said he will only fire Duque if the latter is a corrupt official.

"Pero kung may nakita akong mali sa kanya. Maski sampung libo lang talagang yayariin kita kasi ipinahamak ako sa tao," he said.

Duterte's latest pronouncement contradicts his previous statement that he refuses to accept Duque's resignation after revealing that the Health chief already asked to step down from the post twice.

Duterte also vowed that he will stand by Duque, adding that he did not see anything wrong with the latter's leadership.

"Pero yung outright dismissal because it is the clamor of the public? Maski kami lang dalawa ni Duque and the rest of the Philippines, I will stand by him," he said.

"Pero I will never abandon that person... G*** ako pero may mga boundaries ako sa buhay ko," he added.

Resignation calls on Duque stemmed from the Commission on Audit reports that there are discrepancies in DOH's spending of COVID-19 funds.

At one point in the taped briefing,  Duterte clarified that he is not stopping COA's job but asked the agency to mention in its report that funds were not corrupted.

"Ang akin lang is presentation. Dapat 'yan in your (COA) findings, there should be sort of a preamble na this is an audit report tapos wala kaming nakita, there is no corruption. There is no loss of funds," Duterte said.

State auditors already issued a previous statement that there was no loss of funds in the DOH audit report.—LDF, GMA News