Sacked Usec Valdez breaks silence

MANILA - In her first live interview since she was removed from post as an undersecretary, Maia Halmen Valdez said her dismissal was not because of corruption allegations or a political power play.

"For me, it’s a policy question," she said.

President Rodrigo Duterte last week said he was “appalled” by an unnamed undersecretary who reviewed the National Food Council (NFA) Administrator's decision to deny importation permits. Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol later named Valdez as the official Duterte was pertaining to.

Valdez maintained, there was no truth to Duterte's claims.

"It is not within the prerogative of a single member of the council, in this case the administrator, to decide on it, all the more an alternate like me," she said.