Emmanuel Piñol is New Agriculture Secretary

Following his oath taking with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in Malacañang as the new chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol received the stewardship of the department on July 1, 2016 from outgoing Secretary Proceso Alcala. In a simple turn over ceremony at the DA grounds, Secretary Piñol said,(referring to the DA flag handed over to him by outgoing Secretary Alcala). “Napakabigat ng bandila na ibinigay sa akin ni Secretary Procy Alcala. Ganyan din po kabigat siguro ang magiging tungkulin ko bilang bagong tagapangasiwa ng isa sa pinakamalaking departamento sa ating gobyerno.” Sec. Piñol underscored the importance of his cabinet position, explaining the protocol on the seating arrangement of cabinet officials during meetings in Malacañang. The proximity of the cabinet official to the Chief Executive indicates the relative importance of the government agency he leads. “The Secretary of Agriculture sits right next to the President after Secretary Sonny Dominguez of the Department of Finance. That’s how important our Department is,” he said. Sec. Piñol also stressed that the way things being done now should be changed. He cited that the country’s capacity to irrigate farmlands for more rice for the country is only about 52,000 hectares. Thus, over the next six years Filipino farmers will have to strive very hard to produce more food for the country with a population growth of 1.9% every year. The new Agri Chief acknowledged that the turn-over of leadership is a very emotional moment for outgoing Sec. Alcala having spent six years of his life in DA. “I know how you love the people in this department. But we have the saying that goes, the only thing that doesn’t change in this world is “change”, nothing is permanent. Champions lose, kings fall, we have to move forward, he added.

New heads of DA offices

As Sec. Piñol takes over the stewardship of DA, he also announced the new heads of various DA offices who would be working with him in the next six years to assist him in accomplishing the gargantuan tasks inherent to his position. Undersecretaries Segfredo Serrano and Bernadette Romulo-Puyat are retained as DA’s Undersecretary for Policy and Planning and Undersecretary for Administration and Finance and Chief-of-Staff, respectively. Evelyn Lavinia is the Usec. for Agribusiness and High Value Crops. On the other hand, lawyer Ranibai Delangalen is the new Undersecretary for Special Concerns. The other officials who will join the DA family are: Sec. Piñol’s younger brother, Ferdinand “Bobong” Piñol as his Executive Assistant; – Retired Commodore Eduardo Gongona as Usec. for Fisheries and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director; Retired Admiral Joey Casilia, and Atty. Tom Fawti, personal lawyer of Senator-elect Manny Pacquiao will serve as fisheries consultants. Atty. Francisco Villano, Jr. will be the Assistant Secretary for Finance; former priest Father Lerey Panes as the ASec. for Planning, Project Development and Special Projects; Atty. Hansel Didulo as ASec. for the Visayas (who will focus on the agriculture concerns in the Visayas area); Dr. Enrico Garzon as ASec. for Livestock; Richard “Bong” Año II as Asec. for Operations. Sec. Piñol also announced that he has recommended to President Duterte new heads of the National Irrigation Administration and the National Food Authority. Engr. C’zar Sulaik, a former Regional Executive Director for CARAGA and Atty. Domingo Duerme, a former Vice-President of Philippine Airlines in Mindanao, respectively. ●