TULFO: Magandang umaga, Secretary Abella, sir.

USEC. ABELLA: Magandang umaga rin po sa inyo, Erwin.

TULFO: Alam mo, Sec, I don’t know if nababasa mo, naririnig mo o maging ang Pangulo ay nadinig niya iyong palakpakan iyong mga tao, once again, because muli na naman daw pinatunayan ng Manong Digong iyong kanyang sincerity. I mean, he really walks his talk, na walang korapsyon sa administrasyon ko, sa gobyerno. Eh ito nga nasampolan si Mike Sueno ng DILG. Pero how hard…it must be hard for the President being his friend, Secretary Sueno, Secretary Abella? Was it hard for the President to do so?

USEC. ABELLA: Ang napansin po namin kahapon, I mean the night before, before the Cabinet meeting. He was very serious, the President was very serious, usually palabiro po siya, pero that, afternoon, he was very serious at ganoon na lang po nung nagbukas iyong meeting ay he went directly to Q & A with Secretary ‘no. And makikita natin sa gravity nung kanyang demeanor, iyong gravity nung kanyang tanong, he is very terse siya. So if you are asking kung mahirap ba para sa kanya, obviously po very, very difficult at iyon po ang bigatin na dala-dala niya. So, it was rather another difficult thing, opo.

TULFO: Sir, does he remind you always, all of you sa Cabinet, na do not do this. I heard kasi na during Cabinet meetings biglang papasok niya at ire-remind kayong lahat na “ayaw ko ng corruption, ayaw ko ng corrupt sa miyembro ng Gabinete ko.” Does he always tell you that, remind you that?

USEC. ABELLA: Alam po ninyo, Erwin, tama kayo ‘no. Pabalik-balik iyan, he always says that and…ang sinasabi kasi niya na parang nakasalalay sa…iyong kanyang mga salita sa kanyang Gabinete ‘no. Kasi sabi niya, ‘I cannot assure the ones under them, but I can assure you about the ones who are…’ iyong kanyang direct hire or kagaya nung direct appointees. And again and again he says that—apparently iyong kanyang own experience in government shown him na—katulad nga ng sinasabi niya dati – maalala ko po – na ang sabi niya, ‘kadalasan iyong mga kapapasok lang sa gobyerno, after the first six months nagbabago.’ Eh kumbaga sinasabi niya—and then this is what he is very aware of – alam po niya – siguro sa kanyang mahabang eksperyensa – na marupok ang tao at madalas ay puwedeng maano…puwedeng ma-impluwensiyahan. Dahil sa ano nga naman…because of the events, opportunities that they are given, that are available to people especially in government.

TULFO: Sir, may mga nagsasabi—I mean, apat na iyang pinagsisibak niya, ang sabi ng ilan, parang walang daw due process. Kasi iyong mga nasisibak, nagsasabi parang, sana pinakinggan sila ng Pangulo muna iyong kanilang side. Pero do you believe ba na before the President does this, firing his own people, eh he has sufficient evidence against that individual na involved umano sa corruption?

USEC. ABELLA: Based po sa kanyang mga salita ano, yes—lalo na pag ina-address niya in a certain specific situations. Sa pagkakalam po namin, sa pagkakaalam ko at sa nadidinig ko, he has done due diligence, meron siyang ano, meron siyang—eh lawyer kasi siya, di ba. So kumbaga meron siyang certain benchmark, certain guidelines at para sa kanya kasi, siyempre being lawyer, he is very legal-minded. So ang kanya, pag merong mga significant laws or significant benchmarks, doon po niya naba-base. Iyon po ang pagkakaalam ko, iyon po ang nakikita ko at iyon po ang naririnig ko.

TULFO: Well, pakisabi na lang po kay Manong Digong, sir, whenever you see him, aba eh everybody is wishing him luck lalo na po iyong mga sumuporta sa kanya na that he is doing good job and continue doing it. Maraming salamat po, Secretary Abella, sir. Good morning.

USEC. ABELLA: Good morning. Thank you.