Manila, Philippines – Zaldy Co is truly a liar. Go home now!
This is the call made by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. former Congressman Zaldy Co following the accusations he has thrown at the Department of Agriculture (DA) and others in his most recent uploaded video on his Facebook page.
According to the secretary, all of Zaldy Co’s statements are lies.
The truth, he said, is that Zaldy Co is the one constantly asking for favors from the DA for the import allocation of sugar, which amounts to 200,000 metric tons or roughly P2 billion, and the importation of 13 million metric tons of rice, equivalent to 30 million tons of rice production from local farmers in the country.
The video also mentioned the sudden spike in onion prices in 2022, which reached P600 per kilogram.
The reason for this, according to Tiu, was not because of controlled onion imports or smugglers controlled by Martin Araneta, but rather because of supply and demand issues, or the lack of supply at the time.
He also denied the claims that the First Lady interfered in the mentioned imports, stating that the truth is she never meddled in any matters or decisions made by the agency.
Tiu added, it is untrue that the Quintacom hearing into the investigation of the onion price hikes in the House of Representatives in 2022 was halted because of a confidential report presented to lawmakers that mentioned the name of First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos.
Tiu also denied that he went to the Manila Town Hall to scold former House Speaker Martin Romualdez because of the confidential report released by Romualdez, where he allegedly even apologized.
Meanwhile, aside from the sugar importation allocation that Zaldy Co requested, he also asked for 3,000 containers of imported fish for his nominated companies.
There is proof of this in the form of a screenshot of a text message from Co, but Tiu said it cannot be made public because doing so would violate the law without Co’s consent.
Therefore, Tiu is asking lawmakers for support.
Meanwhile, Tiu stated that this attack from Co is not new to him, as Co has done it several times in the past due to Tiu’s repeated refusal to grant his requests.
On the other hand, Tiu’s legal team is now considering filing a cyber libel case against Zaldy Co for his false accusations against Tiu, the Department of Agriculture, and even the First Lady.
However, Tiu emphasized that they do not want to rush into any decisions at this moment.
Lastly, Secretary Tiu said that the video made by Co was not truly about showing concern for the welfare of farmers, fishermen, or the public.
The truth, according to him, is that it was solely about his personal interests and agenda.