Arthur Juan, NFA administrator. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
It was President Benigno Aquino III who ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the allegations of extortion against National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Arthur Juan and his assistant, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Friday.
Juan and his assistant, Patricia Galang, were accused of extorting P15 million from Jomerito “Jojo” Soliman, a rice trader that the NFA has charged with profiteering and violations of NFA rules. Police raided Soliman’s warehouse in Bulacan last month.
“I don’t know whether it was Soliman himself who informed the President about it, ” De Lima said in a text message, when asked if it was true that Soliman himself had gone to the President to report the alleged extortion.
NBI Director Virgilio Mendez said the bureau is now waiting for the counteraffidavits from the accused NFA officials.
Mendez would not talk about the progress of the investigation beyond saying that NBI investigators have been gathering evidence.
Allegations denied
In a press briefing attended by Presidential Asistant on Food Security Kiko Pangilinan, Juan and Galang denied the allegations of extortion.
The two said it was Soliman’s way of getting back at them for the reforms that they have instituted at the NFA.
“I categorically state that the allegations are not true, are baseless and mere fabrications,” said Juan.
“I also like to say that in my service before the military and private sector I never had a case in my life. I did not apply for this job, I was chosen and for delicadeza purposes I filed my courtesy resignation,” he said.
Juan denied owning the cell phone that Soliman said he (Juan) had used to text Soliman and give instructions where to deposit the money. He also denied knowing the persons into whose accounts Soliman allegedly deposited the P10-million extortion money.
“The alleged cell phone is not my phone and I do not know the persons who were identified as owners of the bank account,” Juan said.
He also explained that he only met Galang last June 30, or 10 days before the alleged exchange of money took place.
Galang also denied the allegations against her and confirmed Juan’s statement that they met for the first time when she became his special assistant on June 30.
“I would like to categorically deny all the allegations of Soliman. We are just doing our jobs and trying to clean the organization. I categorically deny any wrongdoing, and the accusations are completely untrue,” Galang said.
Galang also said the “alleged number used to extort was not my mine, the text messages sent from my phone alluding extortion if ever there was one were fabricated.”
She also denied that she had asked for a Louis Vuitton sling body bag from Soliman, saying jokingly that the model was now passé.
Perjury charges
Juan and Galang said that they would file perjury charges against Soliman and would fully cooperate with the NBI investigation.
“We are seriously considering the filing of perjury charges and we are looking at some more violation that Soliman most probably has done along the lines of importation of rice, but we do not have the full details yet,” Juan said.
Pangilinan defended the pair and said that Juan was nominated by a search committee and had the support of the committee despite the allegations of Soliman.
Pangilinan confirmed that Juan and Galang had both offered to resign but that he had rejected them.
“I have convinced them not to resign, because in doing so would be giving in to the unscrupulous plans of those who wanted to prevent the reforms in taking place in the NFA,” he said.
In an affidavit he submitted to the NBI, Soliman alleged that Juan and Galang had demanded P15 million from him, in exchange for dropping the charges that the government had filed against him and the reopening of his padlocked warehouse.
He also claimed that of the P15 million, he was told that P5 million each would go to Pangilinan and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.
In Malacañang, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Soliman should support his allegations with evidence.
“He should be able to establish his paper trail, the money trail. If he has evidence, it should be submitted during the investigation,” Valte told reporters on Friday.
She said Malacañang was leaving it to the NBI to handle the investigation of Soliman’s allegations against Juan, and saw no need to get an explanation from Juan himself.
Valid licenses
Meanwhile, a disgruntled NFA official in Bulacan said Soliman had good working relations in the food industry.
Soliman owns Fujisu Grains, a family business which has been transacting with the NFA office in Bulacan since 2006, said Serafin Manalili, the general manager of the NFA in Bulacan who was dismissed by Juan early this month.
Manalili said Fujisu Grains has been engaged in warehousing, wholesaling, retailing, milling, importing, repacking and transporting grains, using licenses issued by the NFA.
Noli Francisco, the NFA Bulacan licensing division chief, confirmed that Soliman has valid licenses to transact rice.
Manalili said Soliman is a fourth-generation member of a clan whose business began 80 years ago in Binondo, Manila.
“Their rice business was started by the grandfather of Soliman’s father. That enterprises would not have lasted had they been involved in anything illegal. That’s probably the reason Soliman decided to fight the government because the family is confident it has done nothing wrong,” he said.
Soliman’s warehouse in Bulacan was raided by police last July because of reports that his firm had been mixing imported grains with locally produced rice.
Manalili said he was sore at Juan for relieving him of his Bulacan post last Aug. 5 and assigning him to the agency’s regional office in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
He said his relief came after a raid on a warehouse in Marilao town last month.
NFA personnel had allegedly caught employees of a trading firm rebagging NFA rice, purportedly to be sold as commercial grains in the market.
Manalili said his relief as NFA Bulacan general manager implied that he had taken part in the illegal acts. With TJ Burgonio and Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon
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