President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday rejected calls of his critics for him to resign his post, following his order for his Cabinet members to hand over their courtesy resignations in a bid to cleanse his administration from underperforming officials.

Former Duterte Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, responding to reports of Cabinet revamp, said that Marcos Jr should be the one to leave his post. 

Another former Duterte official, ex-Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque doubled down on the call for Marcos Jr’s resignation, saying that the President himself, and not his cabinet officials, is actually the root of the problem.

“Ba’t ko gagawin ‘yun? At wala sa ugali ko ‘yung tinatakbuhan ang problema. So, what good will that do?” Marcos Jr. replied.

While critics have been downplaying his leadership movements, the President remains unfazed, even vowing a more rigorous and deeper review of his officials’ performance.

“I’ll share with you one thing. That as we were doing the performance review, and when we see shortfalls in performance, I don't leave it at that. I look and ask why is that the case? And that is why we ask all the heads of agencies to also submit their courtesy resignations because we have to look at deeper, not just look at the secretary,” he said.

“We are looking at the problem deeply. You know, siguro by now, you know, I don't do things pang optics. If there is a problem, I like to fix it. So, that's what we are doing. So, expect us to be doing a rigorous performance review, not only at the Cabinet level, but even deeper.