Bello to detractors: Sue me

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Tuesday challenged his detractors to sue him if they have evidence against him.

"Sue me, go to court if you have an iota of evidence against me," Bello said in a press briefing at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) office Tuesday.

Reading a prepared statement, Bello said there is an apparent "orchestrated" campaign to vilify his name and the institution he represents.

He said the vilification started early this year in the thick of the rollout of the OFW iDOLE ID.

Some groups or individuals who were interested in the project must have felt that getting rid of him was the only way they can get the project, he said.

"When their campaign did not fly, they took advantage of my alleged failure to extend assistance to a certain OFW who claimed to have sought my help to repatriate an innocent eight month old child from Saudi Arabia," Bello said.

"This is a blatant lie. What was being followed up in our office was the pending case of a recruitment agency whose licensed was canceled," he said.

The secretary did not identify his detractors but said they are in and outside of DOLE.

"If in paradise there is a snake here at DOLE there might be a cobra," Bello said.

Asked why the group was maligning him, Bello cited two possible reasons.

"Maybe they just want to become Secretary of Labor or maybe they dont want me to become Ombudsman...there are many possibilities. Im trying to decipher what they want. What is their plan," he said.

"It’s not farfetched that there is a group that wants to handle DOLE. I don’t know why when there is a lot of work here. I don’t understand why they want to become secretary of labor," he said.

He said the person behind the attacks brought a certain woman to Malacanang and told the President that she was a victim of extortion at DOLE.

Bello said he found out that the woman signed a prepared affidavit which she did not read.

"When I met her she said she never mentioned my name to President Duterte. I asked her, if you did not how come my name appeared? She said somebody (probably some of you have a notion who), prepared an affidavit and without reading it she signed it," he said.

Bello said he will identify his detractors in due time.