BIZ BUZZ: More to come: Agri reshuffling

After the reassignment of some of its key officials, it seems that the reshuffling at the Department of Agriculture (DA) is far from over.

“Further changes in the DA leadership are likely given the temporary nature of certain appointments and the additional workload placed on the shoulder of certain officials,” the DA said.

Arnel de Mesa, DA spokesperson, said the agency would also make changes not only at the central office but also at its bureaus and regional offices.

But in a radio interview, De Mesa noted that the retirement of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban last Dec. 31 is the latter’s personal decision.

“There are no issues—none at all. He stepped down from his post as a courtesy because we have a new administration,” he said.

President Marcos has yet to appoint a replacement for Panganiban.

Earlier, the agency announced that Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian is now part of the technical advisory group of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.

Sebastian had turned over his multiple roles to U-Nichols Manalo, now the director of the DA’s National Rice Program, aside from being officer in charge (OIC) and director of DA field operations service and the National Corn Program director.

Mercedita Sombilla is undersecretary for DA bureaus while Agnes Catherine Miranda is undersecretary for attached agencies and corporations.

Thelma Tolentino was appointed undersecretary-designate for finance in concurrent capacity as chief administrative officer and OIC-director of DA’s financial and management service.

Drusila Esther Bayate, currently the undersecretary for fisheries, is also handling the policy, planning and regulations unit.

Roger Navarro, as OIC undersecretary, is assigned as OIC at the Office of the Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development; Office of the National Project Director, Philippine Rural Development Project and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Operations.

Amid the leadership changes, the DA formed a team — led by Manalo — that will address concerns and requests and facilitate document submissions to the Office of the President-Presidential Management Staff.—Jordeene B. Lagare

‘Modernized’ agri sector

The DA started its year with yet another promise of “modernizing” the sector and boosting farm production capacity and contribution to the domestic economy.

Agriculture Secretary Laurel made the fresh commitment on Tuesday, urging his employees to “focus on the challenge of producing more food for Filipinos” ahead of the El Niño dry spell phenomenon.

But perhaps it is also an effort to boost his image.

During the DA’s flag ceremony, Laurel said 2024 “will be a very challenging year.”

“As I told you last time, all eyes are trained on us, more on me probably, because I’m the new agriculture secretary,” he said. “The entire country expects that we could feed them and that we will try to bring commodity prices down.”

Since Laurel replaced President Marcos at the helm of the DA in November, the agency said it had inaugurated new irrigation facilities and consulted stakeholders “to determine a better course of action and father support to achieve [the President’s] vision.”

The agriculture chief also hinted at a new program coming in the next 10 days that is expected to provide “more timely” farm and market statistics.

As Laurel himself said, all eyes are on the DA—or him, actually—to see whether these projects will come to life and improve the country’s agriculture sector, which is among the industries that may suffer the most during El Niño. —Meg J. Adonis