Like his previous statement, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said he would only leave the Department of Agriculture (DA) once he achieved the things he wanted to.
"Actually I have a schedule, I have a time table for that," Marcos said on Tuesday, Nov. 29, when asked about designating a new DA chief, which he currently holds in a concurrent capacity.
"There (is) certain things I'd like to achieve before leaving the department. So hindi pa tayo nandun (We are not there yet)," he added.
This came as a reiteration of his statement in October that he will remain as the Agriculture chief because he is "still needed there," stressing that there are things that must be handled only by the President, especially over years-long and deeply-rooted problems in the department.
Marcos, however, revealed that he has actually been considering some names to replace him as the DA chief.
"But of course maraming lumalabas na pangalan, tuloy tuloy ang pagtingin namin (there are a lot of names coming out, we are continuously considering them)," he said.
The number of people he is considering keeps decreasing and increasing, he said, adding that he will only nominate one when his "checklist" is accomplished.
"Hopefully by the time yung checklist ko natapos na, meron na tayong pwedeng i-nominate na DA (my checklist is done, we can finally nominate a DA Secretary)," Marcos said.
Last month, the chief executive justified his decision to stay as the DA secretary because the problems in the agriculture sector are “so difficult that it will take a president to change and turn it around.”