ECOP welcomes Lorenzo move to new Cabinet post

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) expressed regret yesterday over the resignation of Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. but welcomed his move over to an expanded Cabinet role as the "countryside development czar."

ECOP also lauded the President’s appointment of Agriculture Undersecretary Arthur Yap as the new agriculture head effective Aug. 15 as it felt confident that the incoming DA secretary will continue Lorenzo’s programs. Yap was Lorenzo’s choice as his successor.

In a press statement, ECOP president Rene Soriano said that Lorenzo’s leadership and credibility with stakeholders in the agriculture sector succeeded in propelling agricultural growth by 8.16 percent in the first quarter this year.

"This was the most dynamic rate of growth of the agriculture sector in the last l5 years," Soriano said. "With the agriculture sector comprising a fifth of the country’s total economic output, its strong growth helped boost the country’s business performance."

"Undoubtedly, the agriculture sector generated jobs not only in the farms but also in the industrial, commercial and services sectors dependent on the farm sector’s activities," Soriano said.

ECOP is the country’s largest employers group, representing the business community in tripartite consultations on industrial relations and employment policies. At ECOP’s initiative, trade chambers are putting together the Employers Summit on Employment and Industrial Relations on Aug. 23-24 at the Philippine Trade Training Center.

Soriano said he expects Lorenzo to again apply his executive management skills in sustaining development in the countryside as the new chairman of Land Bank and the Quedan and Rural Development Corp. (Quedancor).

"His is going to be a tough job to raise more funds for credit, and giving borrowers access to credit on possibly non-commercial terms," he said.

"That’s the President’s challenge to him: Generate more jobs by funding the projects of the small and medium entrepreneurs. But it is his habit to prove at least equal to the task."

Lorenzo, he said, applied in the public sector his successful project management of private corporations from food production, local distribution to export marketing.

Soriano also expressed confidence that Yap will sustain the success of the programs started by Lorenzo.

"Mr. Yap is not the armchair bureaucrat," he said. "He logs more hours in the field than in an aircon office," Soriano said.

As administrator of the National Food Authority and chairman of the Food Terminal, Inc., Yap was involved in the implementation of rice production programs of the agriculture department.