With Malacanang yet to act on his resignation, Eliseo Rio, yesterday vowed to keep working as Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) undersecretary for operation this time focused on the national broadband backbone and free wifi/internet access in public places.
“My resignation has not been accepted yet by the President (Rodrigo Duterte), and until he does so, I will continue working at DICT,” Rio said in a text message over the weekend.
Two other major tasks which Rio used to handle — maritime and aquatic information management system and resilient government emergency communications — were removed from his position as undersecretary for operations.
“At the moment, I am still awaiting for the President’s instructions regarding my offer to resign. Truly, I serve at the President’s pleasure. In the meantime, I have been designated last Friday by Secretary (Gregorio) Honasan as undersecretary for operations in charge of national broadband backbone and free wifi in public places. Pending the President’s action on my resignation letter, I intend to fully make use of this great opportunity for me to continue to champion what we have started in the Department, such as the third telco, and common towers and passive telco infrastructure initiatives and the national broadband program,” Rio said in a Facebook post.
Meanwhile, Rio clarified the issue on the alleged P300-million confidential funds which sparked his resignation.
“… let me reiterate that I never said there is an anomaly involving said confidential funds as in fact, I have no first-hand knowledge on how they were used or spent. There is always the presumption of regularity in all government actions. In any case, I trust that Secretary Honasan will take full responsibility for all of his actions regarding these confidential funds,” he said.
Honasan and Rio on Friday issued a joint statement assuring the public the disbursement of the confidential expense was lawful and legitimate.
