The Duterte administration is not amiss in its campaign against corruption despite the country's double-digit drop in the Corruption Perception Index 2019 by the Transparency International, Malacanang said on Monday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the latest report would prompt the administration to fire more people in government due to corruption.

"It will goad us to sack more corrupt officials. Sack, S-A-C-K. Provided of course there is evidence to show that they are," he said.

According to Transparency International's latest CPI, the Philippines fell by 14 notches to 113th from 99th place a year ago out of the 180 countries included in the report.

Like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the report said that the Philippines continues to "struggle to tackle corruption."

Asked if the latest CPI was an indication that the government has failed on its campaign against corruption, Panelo said, "I don’t think so because precisely we’ve been fighting corruption. And as we have seen, the President has been firing top government officials and complains against erring?government officials have been charged in the Ombudsman and in the courts."

But he admitted that the government also is finding a hard time to pursue the complaints against some erring government officials due to lack of evidence.

"There are many complaints of corruption but the President, as a lawyer, needs certain documentary and testimonial evidence to give him the basis, and many Filipinos are still afraid to reveal themselves or to give evidence of this sort," he said.

He added that the Philippines continues to struggle to tackle corruption because of the due process clause in the Constitution.

"Yes, we are in fact struggling because the President’s hands are tied by the due process clause of the Constitution. It will be different if all of these have been appointed by the President so he can just dismiss all of them outright. You need to file charges against them, and you need evidence to back your complaint," he explained. Celerina Monte/DMS