Agri chief not running in midterm polls, says Aquino

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala

DAVAO CITY—He may be one of the secretaries often openly praised by President Aquino but Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is not one of those the Chief Executive is endorsing for any elective post up for grabs in the 2013 midterm elections.

“I’m sure he won’t be running next year,” Mr. Aquino said in his speech before people’s organizations involved in the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural Development Program.

“He has an obligation to me until 2016,” he added.

The President has tasked Alcala to address the issue of food security, something that the Chief Executive has indicated the agriculture secretary has accomplished more than satisfactorily.

Mr. Aquino has said in previous speeches that under Alcala’s watch as agriculture secretary, the Philippines could become “a net exporter” of rice by 2013—a huge leap from being an importer of the staple food when his administration came to power in 2010.