President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should appoint a "full-time and competent alter ego" to lead the Department of Agriculture, said Senator Francis Escudero on Monday.

In a radio interview, Escudero lamented that the DA chief should address the challenges confronted by the agricultural sector with "urgency" including the administration's campaign against rice smuggling and hoarding.

"Kung mahalaga talaga iyan, kailangang may full-time at dedicated na kalihim at hindi part-time lamang (If that's really important, it should have a full-time and dedicated secretary and not just a part-time one," he lamented.

While he understands the President's desire to hold on to the position in a bid to "personally oversee" the sector, Escudero stressed that "there are too many national issues and concerns that Marcos has to attend to as head of state."

"Maganda ang intensyon ng Pangulo. Ang problema ay iisa lang ang katawan niya, dadalawa lamang ang mga kamay niya at ang 24 oras niya ay 24 oras din nating lahat (The President's intention was good. But the problem is, he has only one body, two hands and his 24 hours time is for ours too)," he added.

Escudero further pressed the need to focus on resolving woes related to the agricultural sector, particularly rice smuggling and hoarding, which are mainly blamed for the high prices of rice in the markets.

Also, Escudero reiterated his call for the government to expose the names of people, not just the trading companies, involved in rice smuggling and hoarding in the country. He said appropriate charges must also be filed against them.

The Bureau of Customs reported Saturday that it has seized P31.5 billion worth of smuggled goods, including agricultural products, from January to September this year.

The majority of the items seized by the bureau were counterfeit items such as shoes, bags and clothes.

The smuggled agricultural products were logged at P3.3 billion.

Escudero had previously lamented that no charges have been filed against any individual involved in the smuggling of goods into the country.