Duterte appoints campaign spokesperson Peter Laviña as NIA chief — Agri Secretary

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol on Monday announced that President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed his campaign spokesperson and deputy Cabinet Secretary Peter Laviña as the new administrator of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Piñol also revealed that Maguindanao engineer Czar Sulaik, whom he recommended to be NIA administrator, would assume as Deputy Administrator for Operations.

Piñol said it was Special Assistant to the President Sec. Bong Go who confirmed the two new appointments to him.

Piñol was in Malacañang Monday night to attend to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board meeting.

"Laviña's appointment as the new NIA head is a welcome relief for the Dept. of Agriculture especially since the agency, while officially under the Office of the President, is one of the most important agencies supporting Philippine agriculture.

Laviña, whose wife Evelyn is Undersecretary of the Dept. of Agriculture, brings with him a public service record un-tainted by corruption," the DA chief said in his Facebook post.

"With Laviña at the helm of NIA, I expect a smoother coordination between the DA and the water agency of the government, especially in the area of the scheduling of the release of irrigation water for the rice farms which had been a problematic issue for so long," he added.

"Sulaik, who was the provincial irrigation officer of North Cotabato when I was Governor, is a Maguindanao-Ilocano mixed blood from Cotabato City. A hesitant candidate for the top NIA post, he agreed to settle for the position of Deputy Administrator for Operations after I informed him of President Duterte's choice of Laviña as NIA administrator," Piñol said of the the next deputy administrator.

Laviña also confirmed the appointment on his own Facebook page.

"New mission - 1) lead in fulfilling one of the election campaign promises of #PresidentDuterte on free irrigation for farmers 2) implement more irrigation projects 3) support Agri Sec Manny Pinol's drive for rice self-sufficiency 4) harness irrigation water to produce power to light up rural homes," he wrote. — VVP, GMA News