President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignation of Department of Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr., Malacañang said on Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said since Rio has wanted to quit from his post a long time ago, Duterte just let him go.

"The President has accepted the resignation of Department of Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr.," he said in a statement.

Last February, Rio said he submitted his resignation letter to Duterte and it would become effective once accepted.

“As I have consistently said, the principal reason why I offered to resign was because I felt I was no longer needed in the Department. Considering that I have been sidelined and kept out of the loop for several months on the decision-making processes regarding vital national programs and projects under my functional areas of responsibility as Undersecretary for Operations, I have decided to offer my resignation to the President,” Rio had said in a Facebook post early February.

“I could not in conscience continue to receive salary from taxpayers' pockets while not doing what I am capable of accomplishing. Simply put, I do not want to shortchange the Filipino people,” he had added.

Rio was the acting secretary of DICT before former Senator Gregorio Honasan assumed the post in July 2019. Celerina Monte/DMS