Palace clears former DA Region 12 head

COTABATO CITY — Malacañang has removed a former Region 12 director of the Department of Agriculture from its list of officials who have failed the government’s lifestyle checks.

Lawyer Manuel Gaite, Malacañang’s deputy executive secretary for legal affairs, issued last May 19 a clearance for Sumael Sekak, erstwhile DA-Region 12 director based here, striking out his name from the Palace list of government officials who have flunked the lifestyle checks.

Sekak distributed copies of the document signed by Gaite to different media outlets here.

He said Malacañang probers must have found out that contrary to earlier findings, he has been living a simple life even as he occupied one juicy position after another in the past three decades.

"This is a very good development. I’m glad that the earlier findings by concerned agencies that I have been living extravagantly all these years have been proven wrong," Sekak told reporters.

Sekak said he and his family suffered a lot as a result of his inclusion in the list of lifestyle check flunkers.