TO COUNTER DEMOLITION JOB,
I SUBMIT TO LIFESTYLE CHECK
By Manny Piñol
Shortly after the National Food Authority (NFA) started enforcing the Suggested Retail Price (SRP) Program which stabilized rice prices and ended hoarding, there was a noticeable increase in the frequency of media stories insinuating corruption in the rice importation.
There was a media report which said that in one meeting of the NFA Council, I insisted on a certain mode of importation suggesting that I may have benefited financially.
The objective of this demolition job is very simple and clear: Destabilise the DA Secretary by raising issues of corruption until it reaches the ear of President Rody Duterte.
With me out of the way, they could control the rice trading again because without the SRP, prices of rice could be manipulated.
Hoarding will once again be the name of the game.
The main suspect in this demolition job are members of the rice cartel which has controlled and profited from rice trading.
In the past, I may just have opted to shrug it off and let pass but the negative reports came incessantly.
This time, however, I feel that if I do not confront the issue, it would earn credence and destroy the name that I have protected all of these years while in public service.
The usual reaction to this demolition job is to issue a statement defending oneself.
I find this strategy self-serving and ineffective.
The best way, I believe is to confront the issue.
Today, I submitted a formal letter to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) voluntarily submitting myself to a Lifestyle Check.
In the letter, I gave them blanket authority to check my bank accounts, check my actual lifestyle, inspect my rented house in Quezon City and my farm house in Kidapawan City.
I even joked that they could tap my phones provided they don’t listen in on intimate conversations.
“Check everything. Inspect the pillows and blankets and up turn the bed foams. Cuentas Claras!,” I asked Chairman Jiménez.
This I believe will effectively address the question: Did I gain financially from transactions during the three months NFA was placed under the DA and over the last two years and a half that I served as Department of Agriculture Secretary?
If I did, there should be physical proofs and a change in lifestyle.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, the saying goes.
During the presentation of my request letter to PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez, I also asked those who transacted business with the DA to come forward and testify if there was any instance I demanded money from them or even insinuated that they needed to cough up money just to get projects from the DA.
Chairman Jimenez said what I did was historic because I became the first Cabinet Secretary to voluntarily submit to a scrutiny by an Anti-Corruption Body.
It is not my desire to make history.
My only intention is to protect the family name that my children and grandchildren will inherit from me and carry for the rest of their lives.
I do not want it to be tarnished with issues of corruption in public service.
(Photos of the turn-over of letter request for Lifestyle Check to PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez taken by Mayette Tudlas)
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