Ex-Ilocos solon Savellano 'highly qualified' for DA job--Libanan
4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino "Nonoy" Libanan (Contributed photo)
House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan only has good things to say about former Ilocos Sur Rep. Deogracias Victor Savellano, who has been appointed Department of Agriculture (DA) undersecretary. “If we look at Congressman Savellano’s background, he has had extensive executive experience, and he is highly qualified for the job,” Libanan said in a statement on Sunday afternoon, July 30. The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced Savellano’s appointment as DA undersecretary on Friday, July 28. Savellano and Libanan co-founded the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL) in 1992, when they were provincial vice governors of Ilocos Sur and Eastern Samar, respectively. Savellano, 63, served as Ilocos Sur governor for nine years before he served as his province’s first district representative to Congress for six years. Libanan has been urging President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to entrust the post of agriculture secretary to somebody else so that he could focus on his job as chief executive. The House leader reiterated this appeal in his traditional counter-State of the Nation Address or contra-SONA last week. “The President’s mind needs to be freed from the nitty-gritty of a department-level affair. The whole bureaucracy – nay, the whole country –needs his undivided attention at the helm of the ship of the state. The Chief Executive should leave the agriculture portfolio to someone in his bosom confidence,” Libanan said. Marcos has concurrently held the post of DA head since the start of his Palace term on June 30, 2022.