AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. firmly stated that the agency’s recent decision to block a rice shipment from Vietnam last month aimed to safeguard the farm sector against illicit transactions.
Tiu Laurel said he is exploring legal options, such as filing a case, after weeks of a misinformation campaign seeking to remove him from the Cabinet.
“They will stand by their story and ako naman, I will stand by that; I will file a case. Simple as that,” Tiu Laurel told reporters on the sidelines of the Tuesday Club Breakfast Forum.
The agriculture chief said earlier that he ordered the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to cancel the import permit covering 12,480 metric tons of rice from Vietnam, which was aboard the vessel MV Tay Son 2.
This followed Planters Products Inc.’s flagging of inconsistencies in the shipment details.
Additionally, the agency stated that the rice cargo was set to arrive in July. However, it reached the archipelago on Sept. 14.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) also said import documents showed it consisted of 25 percent broken rice. However, the actual shipment contained 5 percent broken rice.
“I stand by what I said. Ako na yung nagpahinto, ako na yung nagpahuli, ako na yung nagpa-seize with BOC, tapos ako pa daw yung may kasalanan or may smuggler. ‘Di ba? Parang hindi naman tama,” Tiu Laurel said.
Likewise, Tiu Laurel hit back at attacks against him or the current administration, which he said had already dragged his family business into the controversy.
“But at the end of the day, there is a force behind all of this, hitting me, hitting me personally; they want me out,” he said.
“I must be doing something good to get this amount of attention. And sa totoo lang, ginagawa lang, ginagawa lang, pinapasikat lang naman nila ako,” he added.
Still, Tiu Laurel, acting on President Marcos’ instructions, took charge of cleaning up the mess within the DA. His efforts led to clashes with various industry players in sugar, rice, fisheries, and livestock, as well as with importers.
“I’m here for the farmers and fisherfolk. At the end of the day, you can check our records. Unfortunately, there are some commodities I cannot control just like that, which are pork and chicken,” Tiu Laurel said. (Jordeene B. Lagare © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
