Piñol hesitant to separate BFAR from DA
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol is hesitant to push through with the plans to make the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) an independent department, citing financial budget concerns and issues arising from compartmentalization as among his concerns.
In his first official visit to Cebu yesterday, Piñol admitted that he has changed his earlier position after he was appointed as chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the mother agency of BFAR.
“Before, that is also how I look at things. I think it is better for it (BFAR) to be separated into a department. But when I assumed office as Secretary of the agriculture department, there are big problems (with some agencies already detached to DA) especially when it comes to coordination,” he said in a press conference yesterday at the DA Region 7 office in Mandaue City.
The agencies formerlyattached to DA he mentioned were Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA); National Food Authority (NFA); National Irrigation Administration (NIA); and Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
He said making BFAR a department will entail an allocation of a separate budget and more personnel to run the agency.
He also feared that coordination will become difficult if government functions will be “compartmentalized.”
There are many proposals to separate BFAR from DA, considering its significant role in addressing the challenges in fishery production and marine preservation.
BFAR is one of the eight bureaus attached to DA. But as new DA secretary, Piñol has realized some negative implications if indeed the plan will push through.
Besides, Piñol said, most farmers are engaged in fishing while most of the fishermen are also farmers, such as those venturing in aquaculture.
He cited as example the instance when he was earlier tasked to provide interventions to the damaged coconut trees in Basilan – a matter of concern that is supposed to be handled by the PCA, an agency that was formerly under the DA.
“So what example did that set? That is an example of a very complicated operation where farmers who are supposed to be under one agency, even if it is under PCA, has to be taken care of the Department of Agriculture because they are not just coconut farmers, they are also farmers,” he said.
May B. Miasco/JBB
—