DESPITE calls by some quarters for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to appoint a full-time agriculture secretary so he can focus on his position as the Chief Executive, a business leader insists that it is an advantage to have the President at the helm as it gives him a better position to analyze the challenges in agriculture.
“With the President at the helm, I hope we can come up with a good agriculture program,” Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Federation of the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCII) said at a Pandesal forum on Saturday assessing President Marcos’s recent state visit to China.
Lim said the government must also give importance to agriculture not only for food security but for exports, in order to boost the overall economy. “Our current agriculture budget is so small that we can’t develop a good program for agriculture,” Lim said.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, for fiscal year 2023, “the Marcos administration has allotted a total of P184.1 billion for the Agriculture sector—a substantial increase of 39.2 percent from its 2022 allocation—to ensure food security and agricultural productivity.”
Lim said the amount is not enough as the country needs to pursue several agricultural activities such as seed production.
Time to appoint DA chief
Meanwhile, professor Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president for external affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, thinks it is high time for the President to appoint a full-time agriculture secretary to enable him to focus more on his job as Chief Executive.
“President Marcos Jr.’s plate is quite full right now as he tackles colossal issues such as inflation, pandemic, drugs, traffic, among others.
Despite its success, the recent state visit to Beijing needs a follow-through and an effort to stick with the agreements to ensure the investment pledges worth $22.8 billion would materialize. “We need China more than China needs us,” Malindog-Uy said.
Sixto Benedicto, president of the Association for Philippines-China Understanding (APCU), is optimistic that through the Marcos visit, the diplomatic and bilateral relations between the Philippines and China under his administration will be fruitful, vibrant, and bright. “This visit is also significant, for it will define the posture and trajectory of the Philippines-China bilateral relations in the next five years under the Presidency of Marcos Jr.,” he said,
“With this state visit, I believe that the relations between the two countries, both state-to-state and people-to-people, will be strengthened and deepened further, and more economic and trade cooperation between the two countries will be established and pursued that will benefit the peoples of the Philippines and China.”