The President’s Men and Women: Manny Piñol - For the love of agriculture

MANILA, Philippines – It was just another Monday for then North Cotabato governor Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol when Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano requested that the local official accompany him to visit then president-elect Duterte in Davao City.

Little did the governor know that he would be given the highest post in the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“He didn’t have a plan to go to Duterte’s house but Cayetano insisted for him to come. The President then introduced him as the ‘North Cotabato governor and now Department of Agriculture secretary’,” said Ferdinand Piñol, brother of the DA chief.

While the Piñol family has been a longtime friend of the Duterte family, there were several other names considered for the position of agriculture secretary.

“He never volunteered. But the President probably saw his love for agriculture. He told me he was very happy with the appointment and he felt that he was on cloud nine upon the announcement,” the other Piñol said.

Belonging to a large family with 10 brothers, Manny Piñol had to learn to work at the farm at a young age as his parents, who were teachers, had to strive to support all of them.

Aside from serving as governor, Piñol was a former sportswriter and farmer.

“I don’t have the highest and most prestigious educational background compared with others. But what I brought with me are the dreams and aspirations of the Filipino farmers,” the new DA chief said.

Two days after his appointment, Piñol realized the weight of the responsibility given to him by President Duterte – to end corruption in DA and provide food for the people.

“To end corruption is easy since the President himself is our very example. The more difficult task is food production because it is a double action as we need to lower cost and increase productivity,” Piñol explained.

For the next six years, the DA chief vowed to provide available and affordable food for Filipinos.

His major thrusts for the DA include achieving 100 percent rice self-sufficiency by 2018; bringing back the Philippine Coconut Authority, National Irrigation Administration, National Food Authority and Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority under the DA umbrella; and stopping the smuggling of rice and other agricultural products.

Even before he assumed his post, Piñol began his job by visiting agricultural areas to witness the real situation of every Filipino farmer.

Piñol said he would not confine himself to the four corners of his office and would have face-to-face interaction with stakeholders in agriculture and fishery sectors to hear and address their concerns.

His major accomplishments include the initiation of the bottom-up agricultural planning program, which designed the priority crops approach in North Cotabato. It focused on four major crops: rubber, oil palm, banana and coconut.

This move transformed North Cotabato from one of the poorest provinces in the country into one of the top 30 provinces with the lowest poverty incidence in 2007.

He also initiated the establishment of Monitoring and Advisory Group for the implementation of the World Bank-funded Mindanao Rural Development Program, which contributed to its effective monitoring and success.