Panganiban assumes top DA post

Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban has been named acting secretary vice Edgardo Angara who is set to take his oath of office as the new executive secretary today.

Majoring in agronomy and plant protection, Panganiban graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, getting 24 more academic units afterwards to earn a master’s degree in public administration.

A recipient of the Presidential Golden Plow Award from then President Marcos in 1974 for his contribution to "the world-famous Masagana 99 Rice Program," he became known as the "brains" behind that feat which remains unsurpassed until now.

The Masagana 99 program has been called as such since its objective was to produce at least 99 sacks of rice from every hectare of arable land. Because of Masagana 99, the Philippines attained rice sufficiency and then went on to become a net exporter of rice. Through the years, however, thousands of hectares of rice land were converted to industrial and commercial use until the remaining areas became unable to feed a fast-growing population, thus making the Philippines a net importer of rice again.

"Of course, rice production can be a lot better now because of better technology while the fundamentals are still the same," an observer pointed out. "But Panganiban can lead us to do what we did successfully before."

Panganiban, a Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee, has served the Department of Agriculture in various capacities for over two decades now.