Duterte says he’s ready to quit if any of children to be involved in corruption

March 13, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday he is ready to resign if any of his children would be involved in corruption.

In a speech at the 35th anniversary of his political party PDP-Laban in Pasay City, Duterte said he is ready to go to jail for alleged extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, but not for corruption.

"If my luck in life is to be a president and I will be imprisoned, it's okay with me, but not for corruption. Killing (it's okay), but not because of the money. It's embarrassing," he said.

"I will make a guarantee, if any of my children...anyone of them could be involved in corruption, government's money, I will resign. (It's for) delicadeza," Duterte said.

Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio is the mayor of Davao City, while his son, Paulo, is the vice mayor. His youngest son from his first wife is not in politics, while he has a teenage daughter with his current partner.

But Duterte said he would not resign if it is due to the the killings of those involved in illegal drugs.

He again denied the allegation of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV he has a P211 million bank account.

He reiterated his call to the central bank to look into his bank account to determine if he really has such a huge bank deposit.

In the same speech, Duterte assured that any compromise agreement that the government would enter into with Mighty Corp, a cigarette manufacturing company, would be transparent.

Duterte earlier said his administration is ready to forgive Mighty Corp, whose owner is his "mistah" and "friend," from tax evasion if the firm would provide P3 billion, double from the alleged P1.5 billion tax deficiencies of the company.

Duterte and Mighty Corp. head Alexander Wongchungking were adopted by the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1967.

However, during the speech, Duterte said he was told by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that P3 billion settlement was small.

Any compromise agreement with Mighty Corp. should be much higher, he said, quoting Dominguez.

Mighty Corp. was allegedly involved in using fake tax stamps, thus, depriving the government of the needed revenue. Celerina Monte/DMS