In a speech at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), President Rodrigo Duterte said he fired Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno when the latter claimed he was not informed of a legal opinion from his own office.

"He said that he was not informed of the legal opinion of his own office, I lost my...when you answer me with that kind of statement, it's either you are taking me for a stupid idiot, or you are lying through your teeth, sans the embarrassment. Kaya ako, na-p********. So, I said, you are fired," the president said during the inauguration of the MMDA Crisis Management Center in Guadalupe.

The move to fire the official, Duterte said, is in line with his campaign promise to stop corruption.

In a statement, Sueno accepted the president’s decision to remove him from the DILG. However, he denied allegations of corruption.

"I wholeheartedly accept the decision of the President. It is his call if he wants me in his Cabinet or not. But for the record, Mr. President, and I can say this with all honesty and sincerity, hindi po ako corrupt," Sueno said.