Agriculture Secretary
Proceso Alcala has appealed to his critics to carefully study the two
affidavits executed by suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles
before making unfair conclusions against him.
The affidavits,
according to Department of Agriculture’s spokesperson, would reveal that the
Department did not deviate from the procedure with respect to the
implementation of projects under the congressional Priority Development
Assistance Fund.
“The alleged involvement
of Secretary in the scandal is just improbable,” DA spokesperson and
Undersecretary Emerson Palad said.
He added that if there
were any anomaly or abuse in the use of PDAF funds, the affidavits would show
that these were committed under the watch of previous administrations and not
under Secretary Alcala.
Secretary Alcala has
repeatedly and categorically denied knowing Napoles or “conniving with her or
any of her agent and non-government organization” to corrupt the congressional
Priority Development Assistance Funds.
“Ako, sigurado ko sa
sarili ko, never ko po s’yang naka-transact, [even during my incumbency as a
congressman] (I am sure about myself that I never dealt with her, even during
my incumbency as a congressman),” Secretary Alcala said in a previous media
interview, issuing a challenge to Napoles and other accusers to show solid
evidence against him.
In a statement
released on Tuesday, DA said unfounded accusations against Secretary
Alcala and its organization concerning the pork barrel scam is unfair to both
“the farmers and to the Department.”
“Since day one in
office, and up to this day, the Secretary and the rest of the DA family have
been relentlessly working alongside agri-fishery stakeholders to advance the
state of Philippine agriculture, and to improve the plight of smallholder
farmers and fishermen,” the statement said.
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