REP. France Castro of the party-list group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) yesterday said President Marcos Jr. is holding on to the position of secretary of Department of Agriculture “despite his lack of understanding and solutions to the agricultural and agrarian problems of the country.”
“The Department of Agriculture needs a full-time secretary who truly understands and knows the solutions to the agricultural as well as agrarian problems of the country. Unfortunately, the remedies being implemented by the Department of Agriculture under Marcos are mostly band-aid solutions and entail the importation of key agricultural products like rice, sugar, onions, and the like,” Castro said in a statement.
Instead of helping farmers, the militant lawmaker said such measures “further mire them deeper into poverty but at the same time making agricultural importers richer.”
“Unless genuine agrarian reform coupled with full support of the government to local farmers is implemented as well as a stop to land use conversion, our agricultural sector will die even if President Marcos Jr. stays there up to 2028,” Castro said.
The DA is the only post without a permanent secretary, after Marcos earlier this month named Gilbert Teodoro and Teodoro Herbosa as chiefs of the Department of National Defense and the Department of Health.
Last January, the President defended his decision to remain as agriculture secretary in concurrent capacity, saying he is in a better position to effect reforms in the department because stakeholders “cannot say no” to him.
As head of the department which has resorted to importation in the face of high prices of onions and other produce, a President can carry out his duties without having to issue “entreaties” like an ordinary Cabinet secretary.
Castro said the solution to the problems of the agricultural sector lies in the implementation of genuine agrarian reform and the provision of subsidies from the government to local farmers.
“Land distribution to farmers and subsidy from the government would breathe new life into the local agriculture sector and would ensure food sufficiency that’s why we have to pass the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) and the Rice Industry Development Act (RIDA),” she said.
The militant lawmaker called on the government “to prioritize the interests of our farmers and the agricultural sector.”
“We need a secretary of Agriculture who will truly champion the rights and welfare of our farmers and not just implement band-aid solutions to the problems that they are facing,” she said.
