Fired usec accepts fate, hits DA, NFA heads

Dismissed undersecretary Halmen Valdez of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary has accepted the decision of President Duterte to remove her from her post, but assailed Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Aquino.

In a statement released by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary yesterday, Valdez defended Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. in his brewing feud with Aquino.

Valdez said Piñol was allegedly meddling in the rice importation program even though the department should not be involved.

“I respect and bow to the will of my appointing authority, who is my President. Just like any presidential appointee, I serve at the pleasure of our beloved President,” Valdez said.

“It appears, however, that the Office of the Cabinet Secretary is under attack by some officials who have free access to the President. I will not allow my father in the government (Evasco) to be humiliated and maligned in this manner,” she added.

Duterte sacked Valdez on Wednesday over her alleged insistence on allowing private firms to import rice.

Evasco had appointed Valdez to perform complete staff work on his behalf in coordination with 12 other agencies, the supervisory power of which were transferred to the Office of the Cabinet Secretary pursuant to Executive Order 1.

“This means I was the extension of the Cabinet Secretary’s eyes and ears in ensuring that each of the heads of the agencies under his wing is performing his job to the best of his ability,” Valdez said.

She slammed Aquino for deliberately refusing to attend NFA Council meetings to discuss the extension of deadline of the rice importation under the minimum access volume (MAV), which was unanimously agreed and voted on by all members of the council. Evasco is chairman of the NFA council.

MAV refers to the volume of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported with a lower tariff as a commitment of the Philippines under the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of the World Trade Organization.

The annual MAV importation is being shouldered by the private sector to ensure enough rice supply in the country.

Apart from Evasco and the NFA, the council is composed of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Department of Finance, Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority.

“Aquino, after deliberately absenting himself from the NFA Council meetings where he should have raised and defended his position, has opted to publicly defy the council’s decision as though he is superior over all the other members,” Valdez said.

“He (Aquino) who claims to be the protector of our local farmers has been insisting on a government-to-government undertaking to boost the NFA’s buffer stock, instead of procuring palay from our local farmers, despite the fact that harvest season has already begun,” she added.

Aquino has been pushing for the replenishment of the agency’s rice inventory through a government-to-government importation to ensure the country’s rice supply in preparation for the lean months.

“A state-led importation means additional debt to be incurred by already debt-saddled NFA and ultimately be paid by the government through taxpayers’ money,” Valdez said.

“The NFA Council has not cleared the activation of 250,000 metric tons importation. Although the council is not opposed to G2G, its timing could not be worse, for we are already expecting bumper harvest. Thus, G2G at the moment is entirely unnecessary,” she added.

Despite the council’s decision to not import, Valdez said Aquino bypassed the council and even went directly to the President requesting that the G2G importation be allowed.