Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol voluntarily submitted himself to a lifestyle check by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) for his alleged involvement in corrupt practices in the rice importation program.
Piñol personally handed a letter to PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez on Thursday, asking the commission to look into his finances and assets, among others, to determine the truthfulness of the supposedly malicious allegations against him, which he admitted have bothered him.
“Since the transfer of the National Food Authority [NFA] to the Department of Agriculture [DA], I have observed a pattern of media stories apparently insinuating that there are financial transactions i.e rice importation that I am involved with,” he said.
The latest of such stories was his alleged insistence during the NFA Council meeting that the procurement of 203,000 metric tons of imported rice should be done through government-to-government bidding.
“Nothing could be farther from the truth and the members of the NFA Council can attest that I merely preside as chairman and all actions are results of collegial decisions” he said.
Piñol signed a waiver allowing the commission to have access to his savings and checking accounts.
He said the malicious insinuations against him were part of an orchestrated effort to destroy his reputation as a dedicated public servant, which started after he introduced reforms in the NFA.
“When we took over the NFA, right away I implemented the suggested retail price [SRP] on rice, which effectively stopped hoarding. Because of the SRP even if you hoard the rice and sell it later, the price will remain the same,” he said.
Piñol added that he also limited the classification of rice to “regular, well-mailed and premium,” which put a stop to the mislabeling of rice varieties in the market.
He expressed belief that the rice cartel was behind the smear campaign because they could no longer manipulate prices of rice.
“Those were the reasons I believe. Yes, this is orchestrated,” the Agriculture secretary said.
“I hope what I’m doing today will set a precedent for public officials like myself. Any question on our performance and actuation in public service, we should not be onion-skinned because at the end of the day all our rhetoric will pale in comparison to rumor[s],” he said.
Jimenez said what Pinol did serves as a challenge to all Cabinet members and all government officials to also submit themselves to lifestyle checks.
“This is a lesson for all so that from top to bottom, you submit yourself for scrutiny. That’s the only way you will establish leadership by example,” he added.