Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap submitted his resignation on Thursday to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over charges of tax evasion made against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Finance Department.

Yap told a press conference that his decision to quit the government is "irreversible" as he did not want to be entangled into the political maneuvers going on in the country.

But he said his resignation has nothing to do with the political turmoil witnessing a war between Arroyo and the opposition which is reaching the point of white heat.

Yap's resignation is considered a heavy blow to the Philippine agriculture as it has shown signs of recovering since the ethnic Chinese secretary took over the office last year.

More than 50 percent of the Filipino farmers are landless laborers living in perpetual poverty and the impoverished rural areas of the country have become a hotbed for violence and extremism leading to anti-government insurgencies.

The BIR said earlier this month that Yap owed government nearly 4 million pesos (74,000 US dollars) of unpaid taxes, an accusation which Yap denied.

Yap, a former economics student of Arroyo at the Ateneo de Manila University, was appointed the post by Arroyo in July 2004 by his former mentor.

The resignation also added uncertainties to the Arroyo administration as the president herself is under unprecedented pressure from the opposition over her alleged election fraud and involvement of her family in the illegal gambling business known as jueteng here.

Source: Xinhua