MANILA-A
senior official of the National Irrigation Administration yesterday decried the
alleged demolition job supposedly orchestrated by lower-level agency officials to
besmirch her reputation and that of her politician-husband as power struggle
continues to rock the agency.
Deputy administrator for finance and
management Lorna Grace Rosario said the alleged corruption implicating her and
another NIA official was clearly a smear campaign to destroy her name and that
of her husband, Binmaley, Pangasinan Mayor
Simplicio Rosario.
“It’s pure and simple black propaganda
to destroy my name and my husband. They are trying to provoke me,” Rosario
said.
The NIA official identified assistant
administrators Vicente Galvez and Virginia Atienza as behind the smear
campaign. She said the campaign was apparently well-funded since the NIAEASP
has no funds to finance the demolition job.
Rosario was reacting to an open letter
which came out in a national daily yesterday calling on President Aquino to
investigate alleged irregularities inside NIA involving her, deputy
administrator for engineering and operation Modesto Membreve and Agriculture
Undersecretary Antonio Fleta.
The letter was signed by officials of
the NIA Employees Association of the Philippines (NIAEASP), the Association of
Regional Directors and Operation Managers (Ardoma), the National Confederation
of Irrigators’ Association (NCIA) and the National Federation of Employees of
the Department of Agriculture (NAFEDA).
The concerned officials said they have
nothing personal against Fleta and the two other NIA officials but just wanted
the irregularities investigated and pending the investigation, that they be
relieved from their posts. They claimed the Board has been meddling in the
functions of NIA Administrator Claro Maranan.
Rosario said her accusers have no strong evidence against
her. “In fact, the NIA Board of Directors have cleared me of any wrongdoing,” she
said.
She said that the issue is politically motivated as a flood
of text messages circulated in Binmaley that the wife of the mayor was
supposedly involved in irregularities.
Rosario vowed to fight off the allegations against her. “I
have to protect my name and that of my family,” she said.
Turning the tables on Galvez and Atienza, Rosario said they
are the ones who are corrupt. “Look who’s talking,” she said.
Last month, the NIA Board denied the allegations of its own
employees’ association of massive corruption in the agency but nevertheless
directed the internal audit services of the agency to look into the
allegations. It described the
accusations as “untrue, malicious and unfair.”
Rosario said her accusers were against the reforms they are
trying to implement within NIA. She said Galvez and Atienza were disgruntled
because they were among those relived from their posts as part of the reforms
being undertaken in the agency. – Manny Galvez
