THE designation of former Ilocos Sur Rep. Deogracias Victor Savellano as undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has been welcomed by House of Representatives Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan.
“If we look at Congressman Savellano’s background, he has had extensive executive experience, and he is highly qualified for the job,” Libanan said in a statement on Sunday.
Savellano and Libanan worked together when they co-founded the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL) in 1992, when they were provincial vice governors of Ilocos Sur and Eastern Samar, respectively.
The Presidential Communications Office announced Savellano’s appointment as DA undersecretary on Friday.
Savellano, 63, served as Ilocos Sur governor for nine years before he served as his province’s first district representative to Congress for six years.
Libanan has been urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to quit the post of agriculture secretary so that he could focus on his job as chief executive.
Last week, Libanan, in his traditional counter State of the Nation Address or contraSONA, again pressed Mr. Marcos to vacate the post of DA secretary.
“The President’s mind needs to be freed from the nitty-gritty of a department-level affair. The whole bureaucracy – nay, the whole country –needs his undivided attention at the helm of the ship of the state. The Chief Executive should leave the agriculture portfolio to someone in his bosom confidence,” Libanan declared in his contraSONA.
Mr. Marcos has concurrently held the post of DA head since the start of his term.
