Marcos to leave DA chief post only if structural changes made

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Thursday said that he will only leave his post as Agriculture chief when structural changes to the department have been made.

Marcos told reporters that problems within the Department of Agriculture are so difficult that "it will take a president to change and turn it around."

"There are things that a President can do that a secretary cannot, especially because precisely the reason that you gave. The problems are so difficult that it will take a president to change and turn it around," he said.

"So I think when we are able to say that the DA’s functions are properly institutionalized and the structural changes that we need to make in the DA have been made and the appointments in the DA have already been made, then saka ako bibitaw [I will let go]," he added.

"Because then they don’t need me anymore, they don’t need the president heading the department," he added.

Marcos said that the country's agricultural problems are "very deeply embedded."

"Ito ay nangyari sa nakaraang napakaraming taon. Kaya’t hindi ganoon kabilis, hindi ganoon kadali na ibalik sa ating magandang sistema dati. Kaya’t I think I am still needed there," he said.

(This has been happening for many years. So our return to a good system won't be that quick and easy. So I think I'm still needed there.)

Marcos has promised to increase food production in the country and lowering the prices of food products. He also wants to fix the value chain in order to address short-term and long-term problems in the agriculture sector.

Under his watch as DA chief, the price of sugar has increased to as high as P134 per kilo in some supermarkets and up to P110 per kilo in wet markets. Industry sources expect the suggested retail price of sugar to hit P85 per kilo as imports under Sugar Order No. 2 start to arrive. — BM, GMA News