MARLEN V. RONQUILLO
WE all know what can lift the agriculture sector from its Slough of Despond, and end, with finality, the ever-recurring story of rice shortages. Give Secretary Manny Piñol and his Department of Agriculture P100 billion a year for capital outlay until the end of Mr. Duterte’s term. Then push the Land Bank of the Philippines to go back to its roots, which is to be a bank for small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries. And away from its high-horse commercial bank mandate.