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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Panganiban: PBBM should stay on as DA secretary

Panganiban: PBBM should stay on as DA secretary

Published Oct 19, 2022 04:28 pm

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. should stay on as Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary.

‘’As far as the new Secretary is concerned, I'm not aware that the President is electing anyone at this moment,’’ DA Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban told Senator Risa Hontiveros.

The Panganiban-Hontiveros dialogue was held during a hybrid public hearing on the proposed 2023 budgets of the DA and its attached agencies presided by Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairwoman of the Senate finance subcommittee ‘’B.’’

‘’Again, for the record, kahit para na akong sirang plaka, sana po makapag-appoint na si Presidente ng fulltime DA Secretary na kanilang magiging katuwang sa pagtugon sa lahat ng ito (Without sounding like an old record, I hope the President can appoint a full time DA secretary who will help him solve all these DA-related issues and problems,’’ Hontiveros added,

Panganiban served as DA secretary during the administrations of former Presidents Joseph Estrada ad Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Earlier, the President’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos, suggested that President Marcos leave the DA post after holding on to since he assumed the presidency on July 1.

Asked during a DZMM radio interview today that there are texters advising that the President Marcos should not choose a politician who lost in the last elections as DA secretary, Senator Marcos replied that during the administration of his late father, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., chose a technocrat to run the DA.

‘Hindi mo puwedeng ipusta sa piano kakautangan ng loob o kung sino sino kamagnak diyan (You just can’t entrust the post to anyone who you owe favor from or any relative) Hindi puwede yun e. (That is a no, no). Yung agriculture highly technical, science yan e (Agriculture is a highly technical, science),’’ she pointed out.

Hontiveros said she welcomed President Marcos’ assumption of the DA post in current capacity during his first 100 days to show the heavy weight of the DA post because ‘’he would bring to bear on our urgent and strategic challenges sa agriculture sector.’’

But the first 100 days have lapsed and economists have warned that we are in the middle of a food crisis and ‘’we should not allow it to deteriorate into a food catastrophe,’’ she said.

Hontiveros emphasized that what the President needs is one whom he could work with in tandem at the DA post to face the urgent food crisis because the presidency is the most overworked position in the government.

The new DA secretary could help the President draft strategic challenges and opportunities in modernizing the agriculture sector, she added.

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