Thursday, September 28, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns

A failure to head food security?

Charlie V. ManalobyCharlie V. Manalo
June 25, 2022, 12:05 am
in Columns, Naked Thought by Charlie V. Manalo, Opinion
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

“Lest Carlos forgets, Piñol was forced to resign as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture in 2019 after his benefactor, outgoing resident Rodrigo Duterte, reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over his performance.”

Early this week, incoming National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos asked former Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol to lead a team of experts to ensure food security in the country.

“Following the energy of the universe, asking former DA Sec Piñol to head a team of experts/scholars on food security…great!” Carlos wrote on Facebook. Piñol readily accepted Carlos’ offer.

And this raises at least two questions: First, What would be Piñol’s professional relationship with incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., given the fact the latter had also assumed the post of Agriculture Secretary?

And second, what was it really that Carlos considered in tapping Piñol’s services?

First things first. To head a team of experts to ensure food security is tantamount to naming him as food czar as that team would surely be a convergence of different agencies concerning food production.

And central among those agencies would be the Department of Agriculture which BBM will head. So, is Carlos saying Piñol would lead an inter-agency group which would include the President himself?

That would bring us to the second question: What exactly is Piñol bringing to the table that would earn him the right to lead an inter-agency group which happens to include no less than the incoming president himself?

Lest Carlos forgets, Piñol was forced to resign as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture in 2019 after his benefactor, outgoing resident Rodrigo Duterte reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over his performance.

Thus, aside from growing giant patolas in his backyard, what can Piñol cite as his accomplishment to merit Carlos’ trust?

A failure at DA and yet now being given a much bigger responsibility. And that is aside from the unimaginable fact President BBM will be submitting to him.

Chatting with a friend, Ado Paglinawan over the dilemma of Piñol’s appointment, I’ve learned that in the post-Marcos era (referring to the time of the father), I’ve learned there were only a few instances when the agriculture sector yielded positive results.

According to Paglinawan, who was a consultant to the Secretary of Agriculture from 2002 to 2004, the agriculture sector, from a national average of 2.9 percent annual growth, posted an average of 8.3 percent growth.

And that was, Paglinawan adds, despite the fact they only had P700 million for programs because, in Ado’s own words, “Jocjoc Bolante was filtering erstwhile program funds to his fertilizer ghost deliveries under our very feet.”

In the 20 months he was in office, the DA Secretary that time, Luis “Cito” Lorenzo, Paglinawan stressed, increased the national productivity average of agriculture from the historical 2.9 percent to 8.3 percent and achieved 97 percent rice sufficiency.

With a measly budget, Paglinawan said the DA under Lorenzo’s helm had more achievements for less money as the DA then ventured in proactive collaboration with the private sector, pioneering partnership with China, including bringing Yuan Longpin here to promote the hybrid rice variety, “as part of full blast support for research and technology that also produced the GetExcel variety for tilapias to be harvestable at palm size in three months and the hybrid corn development for animal feeds.

Paglinawan adds that it was during Cito’s time when the country exported lettuce and other high-value crops for the first time, which was made possible by the development of Nueva Ecija of vegetable terracing which gave Baguio/Trinidad Valley a good competition.

Lorenzo, Paglinawan said, also encouraged whistleblowers which led to the reduction of vegetable smuggling at the Bureau of Customs and the exposition of Jocjoc Bolante’s fertilizer scam.

I am not saying we should bring back Lorenzo, whose only misfortune, according to Ado, was having worked with Bolante.

But what I’m saying is that if ever we should find someone to head the team of experts to deal with food security, or putting it bluntly, a food czar, we should look for someone whose achievements go beyond giant patolas.

And why not the President himself, he being the head of the most crucial agency if ever that inter-agency is formed—the Department of Agriculture.

Maybe Professor Carlos should reconsider her decision on tapping Piñol’s services. We certainly don’t want this administration to fail, starting with her.

Tags: Clarita CarlosDepartment of Agriculturefood securityManny Piñol
ADVERTISEMENT
Charlie V. Manalo

Charlie V. Manalo

Related Posts

Protecting human rights defenders

byManila Standard
September 28, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
Protecting human rights defenders

If human rights defenders are an endangered species, Senator Risa Hontiveros believes what they need is adequate protection from harassment...

Read more

Bliss or bore

byLito Banayo
September 28, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"Through the bliss or bore, the saddest element is to note the deterioration of our once beautifully livable country into...

Read more

The MUP pension debate

byFlorencio Fianza
September 28, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
Money matters

"There are people in both the military and police who are anxiously waiting for the final outcome so they can...

Read more

Investing for the future

byMelandrew Velasco
September 28, 2023, 12:00 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"SMC’s noble purpose and commitment to invest in the Filipino future is commendable" Every  year one learns about performances of...

Read more

China’s floating barriers

byManila Standard
September 27, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
China’s floating barriers

Incredible accomplishment. That one, after the Philippine Coast Guard removed a “floating barrier” installed by China southeast of Bajo de...

Read more

Train extensions – when will they be operational?

byJenny Ortuoste
September 27, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8

It’s time for priority to be given to commuters — the workers who are the lifeblood of industry, the students...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Warehouse Fire
  • Senator urges OTS to enforce one-strike policy
  • Review, update Foreign Service Act—lawmaker
  • ‘Reducing tariffs on rice imports an act of grave cruelty on farmers’
  • Mooncake Festival
  • 2 foreigners with P76-m cocaine nabbed
  • Wage increase for workers in Regions 2, 3, 7
  • Blood donation in Caloocan draws hundreds

Advertisement

Latest News

2 foreigners with P76-m cocaine nabbed

byJoel E. Zurbanoand1 others
September 28, 2023, 10:30 pm
0
8
P5.2M shabu in 3 packages seized at NAIA

Airport authorities in Manila have intercepted two foreign nationals caught with P76 million worth of cocaine. The suspects were Siti...

Read more

Wage increase for workers in Regions 2, 3, 7

byVito Barcelo
September 28, 2023, 10:20 pm
0
8
Wage increase for workers in Regions 2, 3, 7

A total of 682,117 minimum wage earners in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and SOCCSKSARGEN will receive wage increases. This after the National...

Read more

Blood donation in Caloocan draws hundreds

byJun David
September 28, 2023, 10:10 pm
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

Over a hundred donors from Caloocan and Valenzuela took part in an annual bloodletting event to mark the onset of...

Read more

Human rights body hails bill on employment for indigenous peoples

byManila Standard
September 28, 2023, 10:00 pm
0
8
CHR calls anew for protection of vulnerable Pinoys

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday backed the passage of a proposed measure seeking equal employment opportunities for...

Read more

Former sanda world champ Mandal nets PH’s 1st silver

byRiera U. Mallari
September 28, 2023, 9:10 pm
0
8
Blazers trade Lillard to Bucks

HANGZHOU, China—Sanda warrior Arnel Mandal threw everything that he could muster at Jiang Haidong, but failed to knock out his...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Pets
  • Tech
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Cravings
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App