MANILA – If screenwriter Jerry Gracio thinks the current administration is fascist, he should never have agreed to work for it, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement after Gracio said his resignation as commissioner for Samar-Leyte Languages at the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) has been accepted.
Gracio described the current administration as “fascist”.
“In the first place he should never have agreed to serve if he thought it was a fascist government. Bad decision to work for government,” Roque said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart.
On Monday, he also responded to Gracio’s resignation, saying it was “his prerogative to resign.”
“That's his prerogative and that's his opinion. We let it be,” Roque said.
In a separate ANC interview also on Wednesday, Gracio said he initially campaigned for President Rodrigo Duterte because he believed in his promises to end all forms of labor-only contractualization and maintain peace and order.
However, he said, promises were not fulfilled.
While he was still serving as commissioner, Gracio said he was careful in speaking out against the government to respect the administration but admitted that he could no longer take how the administration did value human rights and free speech.
Gracio, a former screen writer of the embattled broadcast network ABS-CBN, submitted his resignation letter on Saturday and posted a copy of it on his Twitter account on Monday.
His resignation came after the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Franchises denied ABS-CBN’s new franchise on July 10, closing down a major part of the country’s largest media network.
The KWF is the official regulating body of the Filipino language and the official government institution tasked to develop, preserve, and promote the various local Philippine languages.
Last week, Rhodora Bucoy and Noreen Capili also resigned from their posts as chairperson and commissioner for media and arts, respectively, at the Philippine Commission on Women. (PNA)
