Netizens lauded the honesty of the Department of Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol after he announced on his social media fanpage that he returned an expensive Rolex watch worth P450,000 that gave to him by a big agriculture company.
According to him, he loves Rolex watches but he knew that it’s illegal to receive expensive gifts from other people.
At first he thought that the box that gave to him was only a simple memento, but when he opened the box, he was surprised that the gift that he received was a very expensive watch that every man dreamed to have.
“It was a Rolex submariner, a watch which almost every man dreams of owning.” Piñol wrote.
He returned the gift because they implemented a no gift policy in their department. Piñol also explained to the company who gave him the watch the reason why accepting expensive gift is illegal for the government servants like him.
“I explained that I could not take the gift because not only because the company is involved in activities which would require the supervision of the Department which I head but also because the law prohibits officials like me from accepting expensive gifts.
I added that I could go to jail if I was found to have kept the watch or accepted expensive gifts from people with interests in the Dept. of Agriculture.” He wrote.
He would gladly accept the gift if the watch came from his relatives.
His post is a reminder that even it’s Christmas time, no government official must accept expensive gifts from other people except to their love ones.
