EDITORIAL - As soon as possible

Speaking in Valenzuela City during the turnover of 20,000 metric tons fertilizer donated by China for Philippine farmers, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said he is staying as Department of Agriculture secretary for now as he needs to put into place structural changes in the agency before vacating the post.

“What I aspire is by the time I leave the DA, we will have systems in place so that we can guarantee the food supply of the Philippines, number one; we can guarantee that the prices are affordable and, number three, that our farmers make a good living,” he said.

This is all well and good, but we hope he makes those “structural changes” soon. This is a post he should turn over to someone as soon as possible. Someone who can man such an important post 24/7. Someone whose attention isn’t divided and who doesn’t have other obligations.

He is just too busy as president to handle the Agriculture portfolio and that department has not received its just share of attention from him, what with the shortages we continue to face, not to mention the issues that continue to hound it, especially where smuggling of food products is concerned.

This is actually the best time to choose someone else. The recent lapse of the deadline to appoint people who lost in last year’s election actually widens his field of possible choices for the post.

In fact he made a choice many laud in appointing Gilberto Teodoro as Department of National Defense chief. Surely he can make another good one.

Someone who can offer undivided attention should handle the Department of Agriculture as soon as possible. It’s no joke to say that our future as a nation that doesn’t depend on food imports depends on it, what with the climate becoming more wildly extreme and markets being affected by foreign developments most of us never saw coming.