PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to shut down PLDT Inc. if it does not expand the citizens’ complaint hotline by at least one more trunk line for frontline government services.

Speaking at a PDP-Laban campaign rally in Cebu City on Sunday, February 24, Duterte urged everyone to report any act of corruption seen committed by any government official to the complaint hotline.

He went on to issue PLDT an order to add another trunkline for the purpose after he recalled that the hotline number is always busy.

“If you see corruption, tell me. Call 8888. Bong, add another trunk line. The present setup can’t accommodate all the calls. It’s always busy. Tell PLDT,” Duterte said, giving the order to his former special assistant Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, now one of the senatorial candidates of the PDP-Laban in the midterm elections.

“If not, I’ll shut down their business. Yes, that’s true. I don’t want to brag, but they owe [the] government P8 billion. No president has ever asked for payment,” he added.

The president did not divulge what the P8 billion was for.

Duterte signed Executive Order 6, which institutionalized the 8888 Citizens’ Hotline and Complaint Center, on Oct. 14, 2016.

The hotline and complaint center will serve as a “mechanism where citizens may report their complaints and grievances on acts of red tape as defined under RA No. 9485 and other relevant laws, and/or corruption of any national government agency, government-owned or -controlled corporation, government financial institution, and other instrumentalities of the government.”

PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan pledged to address the president’s complaint.

“We’re going to put more lines than the 20 mandated in the contract with the government and we will man it,” he said at the sidelines of a Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) briefing.

“We will forget what the agreement said so we will increase the number of lines to accommodate the calls and we will man it ourselves,” he added.

Pangilinan also said he was grateful for Duterte’s call out and apologized for the issue.

“We apologize for that … It’s a bit more complicated than what it appears,” he said.

‘Slap him’

Duterte on Sunday also threatened to slap any government official who extorted money from citizens.

He urged everyone to report if any official tried to extort money from them.

“Call 8888 about corruption. And if they refuse to air it on the radio, tell the announcer that I will summon him to Manila. If it’s corruption. Director, all of them who extort,” Duterte said.

“If you’re asked for a permit, tell him you’re the one paying his salary…slap him,” he added.