President Rodrigo Roa Duterte assured the public of a thorough investigation on the recent woes surrounding the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

In an interview with the media Thursday, the President said he may have to form a task force composed of retired Commission on Audit (COA) auditors, lawyers, and prosecutors for the investigation.

“If I have to investigate, I will take in people who have retired from the COA and some lawyers, some prosecutors. ‘Yung iba, ‘yung mga fraternity brothers ko,” the President said.

He also said that the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee Chair and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano would have to answer to problems that the hosting is currently facing, noting however that he is sure Cayetano is not involved in corruption.

The President pointed out that “lack of foresight” of the organizing team may have contributed to the predicament that the country’s hosting is facing.

If he had options, he said he would have designated former military officials to act as planners to handle the events.

“They are better organizers because the entire Armed Forces is one big organization and they are trained to be structural in thinking,” the President said of the military officials.

President Duterte also expressed opposition to the proposal of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to suspend classes in Metro Manila during the SEA Games.

The suspension period, he said, is “simply too long” and will affect the students.

The SEA Games will be held from November 30 to December 11. PND