Minority leader Marcelino Libanan renewed his call for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to leave the Department of Agriculture, which he concurrently heads, as he aims to help the country attain food security and sufficiency and address the deepening woes in the farming industry.
In his counter SoNA delivered yesterday before House members, Libanan, who heads the Minority Bloc, said Marcos should appoint a full-time DA chief and focus on the business on the executive as it needs “undivided attention.”
“The President’s mind needs to be freed from the nitty-gritty of a department-level affair,” the 4Ps solon contended during his speech.
He continued by saying, “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.
The lawmaker further questioned why Marcos could not place a permanent DA chief just like he did in the Department of National Defense, now headed by Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, after months of being shepherded by caretakers.
“Why can’t this administration find the same intelligence, the same gravitas for the full-time stewardship of the Agriculture department?” he asked.
Libanan first aired a similar question during a probe into the sugar fiasco (Sugar Order 4) in the House of Representatives last year, which the Malacañang refused to comment.
Libanan pointed out that while food security is a pressing concern, it is, however, subsumed in the far larger concern of national security.
“The former can be delegated to a subaltern, but the grander national security should be handled by no less than the Chief Executive himself,” Libanan continued.
Marcos maintaining his position in the Agriculture portfolio drew mixed reactions from several lawmakers, with others agreeing he should stay in the post.
Last June, Mr. Marcos announced that he would remain in the position as the Agriculture chief in light of the deepening woes hounding the industry of agriculture.
He also expressed confidence that he can push reforms in the sector since he is in a position where stakeholders “cannot say no” to him as the President.