By Carlos Manuel Eusoya

PHOTO: Screengrab from GMA News (Facebook)

“Kalimutan na natin ‘yung nakaraan.”

For President-elect Bongbong Marcos, it’s time to move on, start on a clean slate, and forget the corruption allegations of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

In a press briefing with select media, Marcos was asked about his marching orders to those who will lead the BIR and BOC — two agencies that faced accusations of corruption since 2016.

“Sasabihin natin, ‘Ah sige that’s not under my watch, hindi ako, hindi ako namamahala noon eh. Ngayon ako na namamahala, so wala nang ganyan,” he quoted.

Even if he preferred a cleaner start, Marcos promised that corruption will still have no place in his administration.

“Kung mayroon pang ganyan eh hahabul-habulin talaga namin kayo hindi pupuwede 'yan because we will not succeed,” he explained.

Incoming press secretary Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles also clarified that Marcos’ statement did not mean that alleged corrupt officials will not escape their cases easily.

“Pending cases will continue because they’re pending. I think the approach, as he had expounded in previous interviews, is simply not to concentrate too much on fault-finding, not in the sins of the past, because in his words, and I quote, ako na ang namamahala ngayon,” Cruz-Angeles noted.

Marcos made a quick reference to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who chose to sideline the corruption allegations of officials in his term.

The President-elect’s press briefing, which was only open to Net25, SMNI, GMA, was held on Thursday.


Eited by Kyla Balatbat