MANILA — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday announced that Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has been appointed as the new Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In a last-minute press briefing in Malacañang, Marcos said he had just inaugurated Laurel.
“I have just administered the oath of office for the new secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Francisco Laurel. And, this is because it is time that we have found somebody who understands very well the problems that agriculture is facing,” said Marcos in the briefing.
Before Laurel, Marcos had held the position of DA Secretary for more than a year.
Marcos explained that he had held onto the position because he believed that the problems in the agency could only be solved by the President.
“I think I was proven right that there are many things that only a president could do and the problems were so important and were so deep that I felt that the authority and the, I suppose, moral suasion of a president was necessary for us to be able to figure out,” Marcos said.
Marcos said that he and Laurel were long-time friends and vouched that Laurel was capable of the job.
Tame soaring agri prices
Laurel must gain control of the rising agricultural prices, ordered President Marcos.
“Well, the obvious one is trying to gain control of the prices of all the agricultural commodities that are going up,” Marcos told the media at a press briefing.
In addition to this, Marcos also instructed Laurel to immediately oversee climate change mitigation, as well as tackle swine flu and avian flu in the country.
“At the same time, this goes with the long term, the production, cost of production, mechanization, all of those things,” said Marcos.
Marcos also told Laurel to look at what countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia are doing and what could be applied to the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Laurel said that he would lay down his plans as DA Secretary in the coming days, but his priority was the modernization of the country’s agriculture.
“The first goal that I can promise is ensuring that the harvest is bountiful and will reach the table of every Filipino. My objective is to make sure that there is enough healthy food that our countrymen can buy at the right price. The key to this is the modernization of agriculture,” Laurel said.
Laurel is the president of the Frabelle Fishing Corporation, and he has held positions in different companies, including the Frabelle Shipyard Corporation, Westpac Meat Processing Corporation and more. (Jean Mangaluz © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
