William Dar gets CA nod

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the ad-interim appointment of William Dar as agriculture secretary.

During the confirmation, Dar did not receive any objections and was praised for his accomplishments.

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan who delivered his co-sponsorship speech on the ad interim appointment of Dar also mentioned that farmers affected by low palay prices due to the Rice Tariffication Law would get a P5,000 cash grant from the government on Monday. This includes farmers in 33 rice-producing areas.

Dar was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte last August and has been serving as acting agriculture secretary since.

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He replaced former Agriculture chief Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol.

This is not the first time Dar served as agriculture secretary. He also briefly served as acting agriculture chief under the leadership of former President Joseph Estrada.

Dar used to be a former director-general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, an organization that conducts agricultural research for rural development. He led the organization from 2000 to 2014.

The current agriculture leader also received the Outstanding Filipino Award from Duterte in 2016. He was recognized for his stint at International Rice Research Institute and other agricultural research institutions. — Rosette Adel with reports from The STAR/Paolo Romero