Alcala: If you quit, who’ll replace you?

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala: Indispensable? FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said he is not being fired as President Aquino cannot think of anyone who could replace him.

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Tuesday called on the President to replace Alcala amid allegations that the agriculture department had served as a conduit for funneling the pork barrel funds of lawmakers into dummy organizations put up by alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

However, Alcala quoted Aquino as telling him: “If you will resign, who would replace you?”

Alcala said that instead of asking him to resign, the President told him to “just continue with my efforts.”

One of Alcala’s main tasks is to see to the realization of Aquino’s avowed goal of attaining rice self-sufficiency by 2013.

Alcala said there was a systematic effort to have him removed as agriculture chief by people whose interests run counter to government policy of domestic self-sufficiency in food production, particularly in rice.

He warned of “(big) groups with resources” that are trying to create an impression of a rice shortage, and which are not happy about how things are currently being done at the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Latest data from the DA claim that the country is 98-percent self-sufficient in rice. To achieve that, the agency is pushing for a nationwide rice output of 20 million metric tons this year.

But there are doubts, both from inside and outside the government, that this goal could be met fully within the year.