Duterte says fired PCUP chair
President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that dismissed Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor Chairperson Terry Ridon "had too much, too soon" as he traveled abroad at least seven times since he assumed the post in September last year.
In a speech during the conferment ceremony of the 2016 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities in Malacanang, Duterte said he fired the whole commission.
"One is because it’s a collegial body and I have heard that they never had had any hearing except for one or two. And Ridon, the chairperson, although if you thanked me for the time that he was there appointed...I have no personal reasons really to fire him except that --- you know, you had too much too soon," he said.
He said Ridon was appointed in September last year "and he traveled about seven times. And to think that the office is an urban poor agency."
"I cannot understand why you have to be there at every powwow in the international scene. We cannot afford it," Duterte said.
Duterte said this was the reason he ordered that everybody must get travel permits from his office and he would check if the travel was "really worthwhile."
"But to travel seven times, eight times...I said, too much too soon."
In a statement, Ridon said all his trips abroad were covered by travel authorities issued by the Office of the President and recommended by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.
He said his trips involve international conferences relevant to the urban poor, such as on poverty alleviation, public housing and climate change.
These conferences involved a multi-agency delegation, including agencies under the Office of the President like PCUP, he added. Celerina Monte/DMS
