ADVERTISEMENTPresidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo earlier announced that President Rodrigo Duterte had fired Balutan over allegations of corruption, details of which were not divulged. Malacañang would later retract its statement to clarify that Balutan had indeed quit, and pledged to give the resigned PCSO chief a fair investigation. The 69-year-old political operator now faces at least 25 years in jail from the state charges in addition to the seven and a half years he got from federal courts in Virginia and Washington. But the new indictment still has to be tried in court since state statutes prohibit state-level charges that mirror federal counts already resolved. She faces a struggle to overturn two huge defeats in Parliament that have shredded her authority.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 16, 2019 23:03 UTC