THE PARLOR GAME of musical chairs is a favorite in the Department of Agriculture. If you don’t dance to the music of the lords, you are sacked with little, if any, chance to explain your side.
Knowledgeable sources told me that a newly-inducted head of a DA agency, who seems to be working on noble programs to uplift the sector he heads, is now in danger of losing his post and replaced by a totally unqualified person to lead the agency.
Several other bureau directors and regional heads are being replaced at whim if they do not toe the line or direction of the top official, whose agenda in the department is viewed as largely for personal gain.
This top official was the one that threw huge stumbling blocks to a company which was seeking the renewal of its certificate of product registration (CPR). This company had been operating in the sector for decades. It finally got its short-term CPRs only last January. Much of the obstacles he laid for the company involved issues that had long been resolved by the court.
AN INFLUENTIAL EXEC
This official is so influential with his own boss that he could persuade him to not join the recent plant inauguration of the company– whose product can be a game changer for the entire agriculture sector through cheaper production input for rice farmers (thereby enabling them to save thousands of pesos by replacing a portion of their use of imported chemical fertilizer in their farms with homegrown and endemic nitrogen-fixing bacteria).
During the chaos caused by the outbreak of Q fever (in imported goats) two years ago, there were dismissals of those in the know and gag orders were issued to de-escalate the issue from becoming a full-blown expose.
It is unclear to many people why his superior allows himself and his decisions to be influenced by this official.
Several other bureau directors and regional heads are being replaced at whim if they do not toe the line or direction of the top official, whose agenda in the department is viewed as largely for personal gain.
VOUCHER SYSTEM
It is said that recently, this untouchable and highly-influential official was behind the shelving (for good) of the well thought-out Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MIRDP) particularly its approved voucher system for farm inputs– which could have lessened, if not removed, corruption in the implementation of rice programs by empowering the farmers themselves to decide which input to buy and from which merchant.
Through the voucher system, the farmers would have used their intervention monitoring card (IMC), somewhat like an ATM where the name of merchant, the volume and price they paid for the inputs would be reflected.
Since the voucher system is too transparent, its life was cut to only one cropping season in 2024. After that, we all know what happened– productivity fell, ergo we had to import more because the old bidding system (which can be manipulated and doctored) was returned. So now, we have to keep on importing not just rice but all other food items.
BIOFERTILIZER BUDGET
This influential official was also behind the approval last year of 89 percent of RCEF biofertilizer budget to be allocated to imported biofertilizers when one, highly integrated plant can meet the requirements of at least the entire rice sector. Still the remaining budget, which he distributed to the regions, were advised to be given to small backyard operators whose products did not pass technical and field validations.
It is also talked about that this official memoed the regional executive directors of DA changing the specs of a biofertilizer to fit the specific brand made by one company.
Incidentally , this company was the beneficiary of biddings where the product of the state university (UPLB-Biotech) was disqualified on account of non-renewal of its CPR (that he had a hand in blocking).
His boss had skipped many previously confirmed appointments and meetings on his advise– perhaps because the parties to the meeting are not to his liking. (The last cancelled attendance of his boss was on March 16 regardless if the guest of honor then was the Speaker of the House and several lawmakers and functionaries of the executive branch showed up).