Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday said he sees no need to appoint a new secretary of the Department of Agriculture which is headed concurrently by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
He, however, said it is important that the President has someone who would be his “bastonero” or a second-in-command in the department who knows how Mr. Marcos thinks as DA chief.
“The important thing is that there is a second in command, that our president has a ‘bastonero’ for the DA to move. It is important that this second-in-command really knows what to do and knows what the president has in mind,” he said.
“I agree that the President should stay as DA Secretary,” Gatchalian added.
He said having Mr. Marcos as Agriculture chief has become a symbol of the administration’s campaign to ensure food security.
“That is symbolic, that the highest official of the country is giving the direction to the DA,” Gatchalian said.
Meanwhile, Gatchalian said he supports the creation of a task force that would go after traders who are into smuggling and hoarding of agricultural produce.
He said the DA and the National Bureau of Investigation could be the lead agencies of this task force.
“The DA should lead the task force because they have the data. And the NBI should come in here, so they could charge the people who are hoarding. Because for me, what they are doing is economic sabotage,” he said.