THE Commission On Appointments swiftly confirmed by unanimous vote Tuesday the ad interim appointment of Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar.
In endorsing Dar’s early confirmation, Senator Francis Pangilinan recalled the DA chief’s decision that starting next Monday, farmers in 33 rice-producing areas most affected by low palay prices due to the rice tariffication measure will get an initial P5,000 cash grant from the government. Pangilinan said he would rather call it cash compensation, “as it represents payment for the miseries that farmers face today.”
Pangilinan earlier sought various relief options, including this much-needed compensation, starting August—when he delivered a privilege speech on “the plight of the men and women who feed the country.”
The senator, a former presidential adviser on farm modernization in the past administration, recalled that four months ago, “we have repeatedly called attention to the calamitous effects of the rice tariffication law in two resolutions, a supplemental budget bill, and a number of public statements—all seeking to urgently address the emergency situation that has befallen our rice farmers.”
Pangilinan pointed out that Dar’s decision to resort to cash compensation was “a good start and, hopefully, a start of much-needed interventions to support our farmers,” adding that they also wish to “thank the man of the hour, Agriculture Secretary Willy Dar, as well as Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez, for sitting down with us several times to figure out where to get the money to address this crisis they now face—and more programmatically later.”
The CA confirmation came four months after President Duterte appointed DAR as the head of the agency in August. A comebacking agriculture chief, whose first stint was remarkable for the record growth of the sector, Dar’s entry into the DA plunged him outright into two hot-button issues—the birth pains from rice trade liberalization’s implementation; and the entry of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the country’s P200-billion hog industry.
In a statement following the CA move, Dar vowed to lead the farm sector “toward sustainable food security and prosperous rural communities.”
Dar said he would bank on on his “several decades of leadership and management experience from various local and international agricultural research organizations” that he served in achieving this goal.
“Our goal is two-fold. First, we aim to establish a food-secure Philippines where food is plentiful at competitive prices for consumers in the domestic front. Second, we want to assure our farmers and fishermen greater earnings by making them net exporters of food,” he said on Tuesday.
‘Servant leadership’
Dar, who served as a DA chief from July 1998 to May 1999 under the Estrada administration, said he will “reintroduce” his “own brand of servant leadership” that is characterized “by a sincere desire to serve others and to collaborate for greater good.”
During his tenure from 1998 to 1999, the agriculture sector posted a 9.6-percent growth, a feat that has never been equaled.
Dar was also the founding director of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Research from 1987 to 1994.
He also served as executive director of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development from 1994 to 1998.
He was a former director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) based in India.
In his 15 years as Icrisat director general, he also championed and institutionalized an overarching strategy called the Inclusive Market-Oriented Development, in which farmers become active participants for their own welfare.
Dar also served as presidential advisor on food security in 1999 and executive director, National Agricultural and Fishery Council in 1998.
Pangilinan predicted that from Dar’s background—both in his personal history and in his professional experience—he would “do well in the job for the benefit of millions of Filipinos who work in agriculture.”
He recalled that Dar graduated with a degree in Agricultural Education from the then-Mountain State Agricultural College, now the Benguet State University. Three years later, he graduated with a Master of Science in Agronomy from the same university. And a mere four years later, he earned his PhD in Horticulture from the University of the Philippines Los Baños —the youngest PhD graduate of UPLB at that time, at the age of 27.
Upon assuming office in August, Dar introduced his paradigm of “New Thinking for Agriculture” as a cornerstone of his second stint as agriculture chief.
This development framework of his focuses on agro-indus-trialization, sustainability and climate resiliency to respond to the agriculture sector woes, according to DA.
Dar replaced Emmanuel F. Piñol, who was named by Duterte to become his point man in the Bangsamoro region last August. Butch Fernandez and Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas