A lawmaker, who is also a livestock industry stakeholder, has urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stay as Agriculture secretary until the third year of his tenure, to give current officials a sense of fear in doing their jobs.
AGAP Partylist Representative Nicanor Briones, also a hog raiser and official of the Egg Council of the Philippines, in a press conference on Thursday said the President should remain at the helm of DA until 2025, or when he has already aligned the industry, stabilizing the prices of commodities in the coming months.
"The President was right in saying that the agriculture industry was neglected for more than three decades. As I see in three years' time, he can do a lot of change. We foresee him as the one who can ease agriculture smuggling, and most importantly, he already realized the long-been clamored additional budget for the DA," he said.
Replacement chosen?
In a separate media event, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president George Barcelon revealed that Marcos Jr. this year will relinquish his post in DA as he has already chosen a bona fide Agriculture chief.
"We heard from the grapevine that he will announce the new DA chief, and the announcement will be made soon," Barcelon said.
Barcelon said the incoming DA chief was "very good" in the industry to which he belongs.
Days ago, the name of Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr., the owner of one of the world's biggest deep sea fishing companies Frabelle, was floated over social media that he will be pronounced as the next DA chief by president Marcos Jr.
Tiu-Laurel is said to be one of Marcos Jr.'s top donors during the 2022 presidential election.