MANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte has fired the entire board and management of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) for ‘ridiculous’ lease of government property, a Palace official said Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte announced his decision during Monday night’s Cabinet meeting while "expressing his exasperation that corruption continues even in his administration”.
“He cited the case of the Nayong Pilipino which leased government property for ridiculous long period of time of 70 years beyond the lifetime of anyone and he considered this as a contract which was grossly disadvantageous to the government,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
“He therefore announced that he was sacking all members of the board and management of the Nayong Pilipino,” he added.
Roque said the documents terminating “the entire management and board of directors” of the NPF will be issued in due course by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
Asked if the President was referring to lease contract with Hong Kong’s Landing International Development Ltd., Roque replied: “He did not say”.
“It was a contract that originally was 70 years, reduced to 50 and now reduced to 25 but the rental payment was still unconsumable,” Roque said.
“So I don’t know the details but he was just exasperated. He started the meeting with general expression of exasperation,” he added.
When asked if the lease contract has been cancelled, Roque replied the President has said “he will have it cancelled as being grossly disadvantageous to government.”
Roque said the firing of all the board of directors and management of NPF “was also a warning to all Cabinet members that it (corruption) is a continuing campaign”.
On May 2, Maria Fema Duterte, a member of the board of trustees of the NPF, filed criminal and administrative complaints in the Office of the Ombudsman against her fellow board members, including its chair, Patricia Yvette Ocampo, Caroline Lansang, Alicia Manuel, Elizabeth Mercado, Bishop Efraim Perez, Clarence Bringas, Rex Anthony Villegas, and Marie Nino Gerald Medina.
Duterte and the respondents are all presidential appointees.
The NPF is a government owned and controlled corporation attached to the Department of Tourism. (PNA)
