A leader of a militant group has called the attention of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, criticizing his “dubious choice of appointees,” including an “American” as head of the country’s lead food security agency, the National Food Authority (NFA). Lawyer Argee Guevarra of Sanlakas accused Alcala of “turning the DA (Department of Agriculture) into his own personal playground, appointing members of his ‘Quezon mafia’ into the department, including Orlan Calayag, an American citizen, as NFA administrator.” “These very same people have been repeatedly accused of involvement in various acts of corruption including the Napoles pork barrel fund scam, yet they seem to continue to enjoy the confidence of Alcala, their political benefactor,” he said in a statement. “Calayag, is an American citizen leading the charge for national food security. Since when did our laws, including the NFA charter, allow for the appointment of someone who has renounced his Filipino citizenship in order to acquire a foreign one?” Calayag, a former aide of then-Congressman Alcala, flew from the United States back to the Philippines on Dec. 19, 2012, bearing US Passport No.462971672. He has since acquired dual citizenship as American and Filipino more than a year later on Jan. 7, 2013, or six months after his appointment as NFA administrator effective July 1, 2012. “How was Alcala able to dupe the President (Aquino) into signing Calayag’s appointment in the first place? Even assuming he has regained dual citizenship, still, that does not qualify him for appointment in our bureaucracy,” Guevarra stressed. Citing the law in “Maquiling v Comelec (G.R. No. 195649, 16 April 2013)” and “Mercado v Manzano (G.R. No. 135083, 26 May 1999),” the militant leader argued: “First, one who renounces his Philippine citizenship when he became an American citizen is no longer a natural-born citizen of the Philippines; second, even when he became a dual citizen under Republic Act (RA) 9225 (an act making the citizenship of Filipinos who acquire foreign citizenship permanent), he does not automatically re-acquire his status as a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.” The NFA charter states that its administrator must be a natural-born Filipino. Calayag’s appointment into the NFA, “absent the vetting process required under the Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) Reform Law 1,” according to Guevarra, also made him chairman of the Food Terminals Inc. and director of the Philippine Fisheries Development Corp. “This is precisely the kind of mindset that breeds corruption in the DA. When, with impunity, its officials think that they are above the law and can circumvent around it at will,” noted Guevarra, who first exposed the alleged P457 million overpricing in the DA and NFA’s government-to-government rice importation transaction in April, which is currently under investigation by both the Senate and House of Representatives. This week, congressional representatives, COOP NATCCO partylist Rep. Anthony Bravo and Laguna 3rd district Rep. Sol Aragones appealed for “wiser government spending” in the agriculture sector, while Agri-Agra Reporma Para sa Magsasakang Pilipinas (AGRI) partylist Rep. Delph Gan Lee filed House Bill 2936 seeking to end the “NFA’s monopoly on rice importation” as it has supposedly “adversely contributed to the price of the staple grain.” Rice prices in September hit all-time highs even as the NFA invested heavily in government-led importations, spending $94.5 million or more than P4 billion to import 205,700 metric tons of rice from Vietnam in April of 2013, and some P1.7 billion in importation duties and taxes. The farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas has earlier named the following as members of Alcala’s so-called “Quezon mafia”: DA Undersecretary for Administration and Finance Antonio Fleta; Arnulfo Mañalac who served as Alcala’s administrator for the Sariaya Bagsakan Center in 2007; DA Assistant Secretary Ed de Luna; Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator and Alcala legal consultant Euclides Forbes; Claro Maranan of the National Irrigation Administration; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Asis Perez; Bureau of Plant Industry director Lito Baron; Philippine Fishing Development Authority director Rodrigo Jimenez, and Agri Technical Institute director Nicomedes Eleazar. Fleta, along with DA assistant secretaries Ophelia Agawin, and Salvador Salacup, all Alcala appointees, were also implicated in the Napoles pork barrel fund controversy. Alcala has denied being a member of the “Quezon mafia” along with some of his associates.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 00:14:47 +0000
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