Photo from Daily Tribune
By Liezelle Soriano
MANILA — New Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. denied allegations that he was appointed to the position as “payback” of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to the fishing tycoon’s donation during PBBM’s presidential campaign in 2022.
According to a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Laurel was one of the top donors during the campaign.
According to reports, the fishing tycoon allegedly contributed at least P30 million during the campaign last year for PBBM.
“There is no payback. As I said, sacrifice na rin ito, it’s for the country talaga. ‘Yun lang masasabi ko,” Laurel said.
Meanwhile, the DA chief also clarified that there will be no conflict of interest since he already divested from his fishing companies.
“Basically nag-divest na ako. I have no more interests in all the companies I used to own,” he said.
“DA is a full-time job. I have no time to do anything else. Malaki itong departamento, complicated ng konti, there are 28 bureaus and GOCCs. Wala akong time to think of other things,” Laurel added.
Earlier, Marcos announced the appointment of Laurel as the new DA chief and was lauded by legislators, saying that his appointment was “timely.”
Marcos has been the DA Secretary since he assumed the presidency.
(ai/mnm)