President Duterte said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol could play a key role in developing the new Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao as the national government’s bridge to former Moro rebels.
Piñol, whose resignation from the Department of Agriculture was likely to be accepted by the President, said he wanted to head the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), a key support agency for the newly created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
That position has been vacant since the death of its head, Datu Abul Khayr Dangcal Alonto, in May.
The President on Thursday night said Piñol’s possible new role would be similar to a “Mindanao chieftain in government” who would implement the national government’s obligations and responsibilities to the Moros.
This includes ensuring the passage of key measures to help spur the socioeconomic development of the Bangsamoro region.
Duterte said the national government would not interfere in the administration of the region.
“We will just guide them and whatever their longings are, Piñol would bring it to the attention of the Cabinet,” he said.
Duterte said he was not yet appointing the agriculture secretary as MinDA head, saying he still had to confer with Murad Ebrahim, the chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and chief minister of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).
Delayed BARMM dev’t
As MinDA chief, Piñol will act as the national government’s intermediary to the BTA, which oversees the transition of the BARMM.
The President, who has expressed concern over the delays in the BARMM’s development, said no one had been leading the efforts in the region for the national government.
“I cannot see anybody in the horizon except Piñol who knows and grew up, born in Mindanao. He’s a farmer and governor. So I said I needed a point man, and that MinDA position is a Cabinet position,” he said.
He indicated he would likely accept Piñol’s resignation not because he believed he was corrupt, but because his fellow Mindanaoan was the best man to lead the MinDA.
“I want him to focus [on MinDA] because he’s from Mindanao. I don’t see anyone else perfect for the job. It’s Manny,” the President said.
“Now if you are asking about corruption, no, he is not corrupt … It’s not corruption. He is not corrupt. He’s just talkative,” he said.
Reacting on his Facebook page to the President’s description of him, Piñol said: “There will be less audio coming from my side from now on.”
In his resignation letter, Piñol did not specify the reason for wanting to step down, saying only that he made the decision “with the best interest of the Department of Agriculture and its stakeholders in mind.”
Senator-elect Christopher “Bong” Go said Piñol’s resignation may have been prompted by the dissatisfaction of the country’s economic managers over how he handled the rice crisis last year.
Piñol recommended any one of his three undersecretaries to replace him: Waldo Carpio, Ariel Cayanan and Francisco Villano. Carpio is a brother-in-law of the President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Liguasan Marsh
The President reassured the Moro people that he would support the development of the Liguasan Marsh since its untapped oil reserves may help improve the lives of the Moro people.
“That is really full of resources including oil. I said you can exploit it, it’s all yours. Nobody will ask for it except [Finance Secretary Carlos] Dominguez maybe for the taxes. It’s minimal taxation just for regulation, it’s not really for income,” he said.
“I said, ‘Go there and help me. Get them started, hurry up, hurry them up, so that they will have a first regular organized government that they have long wished for,’” Mr. Duterte said he told Piñol.
The secretary is currently in his home province of Cotabato, and has refused to give any additional statements regarding his resignation, but in his Facebook post, he said he was “a soldier of the President and I believe that a warrior does not choose the battlefields nor the battle.”
“It is not the size of the battlefield or the odds that matters but it is how you fight to win the battle,” he added.
The farmers’ group Kilusan para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (Katarungan) said Piñol’s resignation highlighted the problems besetting the country’s agriculture.
Jansept Geronimo, spokesperson for Katarungan, said Piñol’s resignation was a symptom of “the profound crisis in the country’s agriculture sector and the continuing neglect and abandonment of small farmers in the agenda of the government.”
Copra, palay price drop
He cited the drop in the price of copra, which is now averaging P12 to P15 per kilo from a high of P40 a kilo last year. The price per nut is now down from P1 to P2-P3.
Geronimo said the price of palay had also nosedived—from P17 to P11-P12 per kilo, pulling down farmers’ income to “crisis level.”
He said the rice tariffication law that allowed unbridled rice importation was the “culprit.”
Geronimo said the livelihood of the country’s small fishers also was “under siege by foreigners, but mostly by Chinese friends of this administration.” —WITH REPORTS FROM KARL R. OCAMPO AND DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.