New DA, budget chiefs named

MANILA, Philippines — A Cabinet member of former president Joseph Estrada has joined the Duterte administration, amid calls to address the sector long seen as a hindrance to the country’s achieving full economic potential.

William Dar has been named by President Duterte as acting secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), replacing Emmanuel Piñol who is set to head the Mindanao Development Authority.

Dar will assume the post amid the controversy over the rice tariffication scheme, which local farmers say is killing their livelihood.

Duterte also named yesterday former Davao City administrator Wendel Avisado as acting budget secretary.

Avisado, known to be a close friend of Duterte, will replace Janet Abuel, who has been acting budget chief since March when Benjamin Diokno was appointed governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Avisado served as presidential assistant 1 in the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Special Concerns. He will be overseeing the budget as economic managers play catch-up on spending in the second half, after the record four-month delay in the passage of the 2019 General Appropriations Act trimmed economic growth in the first quarter to its slowest in four years.

He has just returned from a two-week trip to the United States, where he was among those who represented the Philippines at the World Boy Scout Jamboree. He is the national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.

Dar is no stranger to the sector, after serving as DA chief in 1998 to 1999 and as presidential adviser on food security during the Estrada administration.

He has been a household name in the agricultural research community after serving as director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics for nearly 15 years.

In 2016, Dar was conferred The Outstanding Filipino Award for his contributions in agriculture. 

Sen. Cynthia Villar hopes that Dar will prioritize the return of the funds intended for the programs that will help farmers after the expiration of the quantitative restriction on rice imports.

Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released P5 billion last December in anticipation of the enactment of Republic Act 11203 or the law creating the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

Of the amount, only P1 billion went to the RCEF program that provides farmers access to cheap credit through Landbank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

“Even if they will say they have already spent it because the RCEF was not approved yet, they should have waited and not spent it on something else. I want DA to account for the remaining P4 billion and to make sure it is immediately returned to the RCEF,” Villar said.

Other agriculture stakeholders told The STAR that they welcome Dar, mostly saying that he is the best choice for the job. They also have laid down some points that Dar needs to address once he starts.

“The high rural poverty of 30 percent must be addressed. This is in comparison to Thailand’s 13 percent, Indonesia’s 14 percent, among others. Rural poverty reduction should be the legacy of President Duterte,” said agricultural economist and University of Asia and Pacific professor Rolando Dy.

Local farmers also suggested that Dar immediately sit down with the stakeholders by sector to discuss priorities and strategies.

“Finds ways to curb undervaluation and smuggling, initiate trade remedies such as antidumping and safeguards, and augment buying funds of NFA. Then see if fertilizer can be subsidized together with quick impact measures to address low prices and incomes of farmers,” said Raul Montemayor, the Federation of Free Farmers national manager.

Agro-economist Pablito Villegas warned Dar on the actual execution of the job by saying: “He knows the solution but the problem is on the execution. He may be honest and has the highest degree of professionalism but the problem of agriculture is beyond integrity. It is addressing the cartels, solving corruption and breaking monopolies.”?For Philippine Confederation of Grains Association president Joji Co, Dar should be able to “revive the rice industry during his stint and address declining palay prices,” aside from modernizing the post-harvest facilities “to increase recovery from palay to rice and avoiding losses that significantly affect the prices of palay as raw material and prices of rice as finished product.”

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) likewise hopes Dar will view and manage the agriculture sector in its entirety, where producers and food processors can work together in harmony for the best interests of the country.?“With his background, he should be able to encourage farmers to produce efficiently and in sufficient volumes so that raw material imports can be significantly reduced, if not totally eliminated,” PAMPI president Felix Tiukinhoy said.

Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. president Bobby Amores added that the sector is expecting that Dar will not just issue pronouncements without consultation with the industry affected.

“We hope he will be proactive and supportive of our agri exports as we need to catch up with our ASEAN neighbors,” he said.

Meanwhile, Medialdea also confirmed the appointment of Court of Appeals Justice Rodil Zalameda to the Supreme Court.?Duterte named Zalameda to fill the post of Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last July 29. – With Edith Regalado, Louise Maureen Simeon, Cecille Suerte Felipe