President Duterte must not turn his back on his mandate to the people to rid the government of corruption, Senate President Vicente Sotto said on Tuesday.
The Senate leader issued the statement after the President said on Monday that he offered to resign after admitting having difficulties in addressing corruption in the bureaucracy.
Sotto said corrupt officials, not Duterte, should resign.
"Dapat 'yong mga corrupt sa gobyerno makaisip nuon, hindi siya (Those corrupt officials in government should be the ones thinking of resigning, not the President). He was elected by the country, he cannot turn his back on the specified task by the Filipinos" he said in a text message.
Sotto believes the President was just airing his frustration and will not make true his threat to resign.
Last September 16, Duterte met Congress leaders to ask for legislation to further address red tape and corruption in government.
In his speech on Monday, however, he conceded that "there is no way" to stop the problem.
He had said in 2018 that he was mulling on resigning over his frustration in dealing with and stopping corruption in government.