Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol vowed over the weekend to cut red tape in the Department of Agriculture and announced a new set of officials.
Piñol said processing of documents in the department should not exceed 15 days.
“The maximum for processing documents is 15 days. If it goes beyond that, then they will have to answer to me,” Piñol said.
“Listen to the message of the president. This government will not allow corruption. Follow the order of the presient and make sure that you stop corruption. Be warned,” he added.
Piñol, meanwhile, appointed Evelyn Laviña as undersecretary for agribusiness and high value crops, Ranibai Dilanggalen as undesecretary for special concerns, Francisco Villano Jr. as assistant secretary for finance, Lerey Panez as assistant secretary for special projects and planning and Hansel Didulo as assistant secretary for Visayas concerns.
Also appointed were retired commodore Eduardo Pambongan as undersecretary for fisheries and director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, retired Aamiral Joy Casillan as undesecretary for fisheries, Bong Año as assistant secretary for operations, Mary Ann Cornelio-as director for financial management services and Ferdinand Piñol as executive secretary.
Retained by Piñol were Segfredo Serrano as undersecretary for policy and planning and Berna Romulo-Puyat as officer-in-charge chief-of-staff.
“I was allowed to make recommendation about the next administrator of the National Irrigation Administration, Philippine Coconut Authority and National Food Authority. Even if it’s still not under DA, I secured the approval of the president to intervene,” Piñol said.
Pinol said he recommended Domingo Duerme as National Food Authority administrator, Al Mendoza as Philippine Coconut Authority administrator and Cesar Sulaik as National Irrigation Administration administrator.
“For effective operation, this has to be back to us. But it is still up to the president to decide. For the meantime, appointments first. I will not recommend someone I can’t work with,” Piñol said.
“I am not here to persecute people. That is not my job. We have to bring in people that the president trusts,” he added.
Piñol also ordered all employees of DA to dress simply in his first memorandum order.
The directive also prohibited all DA employees from smoking and drinking inside the premises.
“All regular and co-terminus employees are also required to undergo a mandatory medical checkup twice a year. This will be free,” Piñol said.