‘I’ve never falsified any public documents’

Preposterous.

This was how Bureau of Corrections director Ricardo Macala described allegations of former Davao Penal Colony chief Alfredo Gozon that he falsified public documents by stating different birthdays in two sets of papers.

"I’ve never falsified any public documents. Maybe, it is Gozon himself who did this," Macala said.

He added: "If he has proof as he says he does, then he should present this to the proper forum and not go to the media."

In a letter to Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Gozon alleged that Macala stated in a certificate of candidacy he submitted to the Commission on Elections in 1988 that he was born on April 3, 1935.

But Macala, according to Gozon, gave a different birthday — April 3, 1939 — in a personal data sheet he submitted to the mayor’s office in Lipa City, Batangas in 1999.

Gozon said that under civil service rules, Macala is overage and thus, should be removed from his position.

Macala, however, argued that it does not matter whether he is overage or not because President Arroyo appointed him to his position.

"I don’t care if I’m 21 or 90 years old. I cannot be overage for my position because the President herself appointed me here," he said.

"And for the record, I was born on April 3, 1935," he said.