Marcos wants agri expert to head DA

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said the next secretary of agriculture should be an expert in the field.

Speaking to reporters in Switzerland after wrapping up his activities at the World Economic Forum on Friday, Marcos said agriculture is a "very complicated subject."

"Hindi lang kung sino-sino basta’t magaling mag-manage. They have to understand the science… They have to understand the solution. They also have to understand the system,” Marcos said.

He said he doesn’t think a policeman or a military man will fit for the position "unless they’re involved in agriculture."

"Mayroon naman nag-retire diyan, they got heavily involved in agriculture, baka marunong na talaga sila, why not?” Marcos said.

The Senate minority bloc earlier urged Marcos to appoint a full-time Department of Agriculture secretary that will ensure food security in the country.

Marcos, who concurrently holds the DA portfolio, said he intends to do "all the hard things" while he is in the department.

“All the hard things, ‘yung mahirap gawin ngayon namin gagawin. 'Pag nagawa na namin ‘yung mga bucket list namin, natapos na namin, aalis na ako then I will give it to somebody else,” he said.

In a statement on Sunday, Senator Grace Poe called Marcos's statement an "auspicious development." 

"We look forward to having a competent, hardworking and accountable person at the helm of the beleaguered agency," she said.

The DA, she added "is at the core of one of the biggest economic challenges facing the country—inflation driven by surging food prices.

"It's only in the Philippines where onions are more expensive than meat, an archipelagic country that also imports most of its salt."

Poe said that the Philippines can improve production and aim for self-sufficiency by having "a hands-on and capable DA chief who will be responsive to the needs of farmers, fisherfolk and consumers; and one with the moral ascendancy and guts to weed out corruption within the department." —VBL/BM, GMA Integrated News