Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr: Modernizing agriculture

MANILA, Philippines — Everything starts with a phone call.Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. was strolling around Makati – looking for a television set – when his phone rang. He answered.

“The President wants you to be the agriculture secretary,” the person on the other line said.

That person was his common friend with President Marcos.

Francisco, known as Kiko, stood still in the middle of the mall, forgetting about the television.

“So, what is going to be?” the friend asked.

Kiko remained silent.

“I could not answer immediately because a lot of things were going through my mind at the time, and honestly, I was quite scared since the task is monumental,” Tiu Laurel recalled to The STAR.

Weeks after the phone call, that friend followed up.

“Kiko, the President is waiting,” the friend said.

Kiko stuttered. “Ay, ay, ay...” He was cut short. “Hey, I need an answer asap.”

“Okay, sige!” Tiu Laurel accepted.

The call ended. After 20 minutes, his phone rang again.

“Hello.” This time, it was the President on the line, who has been serving as the country’s agriculture chief for a year already.

As they say, the rest was history. But for Kiko, or Frannie to his family, that rainy July afternoon was a bit of a momentous memory: he did not just find a television set but stumbled upon a higher purpose to serve.

No degree, no problem

Tiu Laurel climbed the ranks of his family’s business empire, learning the ropes of fishing – literally and figuratively – one knot at a time.

He began as a trainee in the firm’s engineering division under the wings of its vice president for engineering. From thereon, it was a merry-go-round. Tiu Laurel took up all the possible positions at Frabelle Group of Companies: from sales, logistics, purchasing, finance, accounting, audit to planning.

He was sent every month to Japan for a year to enhance his skills and capabilities.

Tiu Laurel learned engine rebuilding, refrigeration, electronics, electrical, hydraulics, ship building and repair, net manufacturing, and even food processing there.

He may not have a formal bachelor’s degree, but he built an expertise anchored on lifelong learning of the ins and outs of one of the world’s most prominent firms in the repair and shipbuilding industry. A skillset that allows Tiu Laurel to have a more profound appreciation of problems besetting the value chains of every agricultural commodity that his department oversees.

Government insiders and industry players often point to Tiu Laurel’s businessman background as one of his strengths as an agriculture chief.

He knows his math. He understands the supply chain. He has first-hand experience of the problems of the industry.

And such an abundance of experience comes in handy when Tiu Laurel transitioned to handle the government’s agriculture portfolio, which is considered one of the biggest departments in bureaucracy given its 26 attached agencies, bureaus and corporations.

Simplicity is key

Keep things simple, Tiu Laurel believes. The best way to embrace this motto in running the DA is by appointing competent people who would focus on specific portfolios within the department.

The DA now has the most extensive roster of ranking officials in its history: 13 undersecretaries and 14 assistant secretaries.

“Since I was running a big company with many business units, I have been used to overseeing a huge organization,” Tiu Laurel says.

“I learned how to recognize good talent or people to work with. Thus, I can delegate effectively as I have reliable people around me to make things,” Tiu Laurel adds.

However, when it comes to stress, Tiu Laurel says that the private sector is more stressful because of the risk of losing money.

“In business, you invest your own money, and there is always a chance that you will lose or even get bankrupt if you are not careful and focused,” he says.

“At DA, my investment is my time and a lot of brain power to get things moving. I have to push the right programs and use the government money wisely,” he adds.

The DA is focusing on the “basics” to develop the agriculture sector: irrigation, drying facility, silos, cold storages, ports, among others.

Crying onions

Onion is one of the key commodities that has caused headaches for Filipino consumers in recent years.

When Tiu Laurel assumed office, the country was reeling from high prices of onions and sugar.

To temper price spikes and eventually pull down the prices of onions, he made the decisive move: allow imports for a limited time. He also allowed local production to catch up with the demand for the commodity.

The agriculture chief always emphasizes that importation would remain an immediate measure to address short-term problems in the sector.

“I went around the cold storages and found out that there were no supplies at all,” Tiu Laurel shares while recalling the “golden onion” prices back in 2023.

Today, nobody is crying because of onions. Retail prices have remained relatively stable throughout the year within the vicinity of P80 to P90 per kilogram with comfortable margins for the farmers.

The country is now swimming in onion stocks, all locally produced and estimated to last until the next harvest in early next year, allowing the government to hold off any import plans.

“I do not think we will see prices of onions increase to P600 again. And sugar prices have become quite stable and affordable,” he says.

Preserving a family name

The older Francisco had only one piece of advice for him when he accepted the government position: to maintain the family name’s integrity at all costs.

“(My father told me) not to shame the family’s name. That is their biggest fear,” Tiu Laurel says.

If maintaining the integrity of their family name means shyness, then shyness Kiko did. Tiu Laurel would be seldom seen on television during the first few months of his leadership.

He did a press conference a few days after he assumed office. He outlined some of his goals and ambitions for the agriculture sector: make farmers productive and profitable.

Days after that, he won’t be engaging with the media. Some say it is the honeymoon period. But the man himself says otherwise.

“I had fears. I did not want to make a mistake in saying something that might affect my family, friends and the President,” Tiu Laurel says,adding that “ I am a shy person.”

Eventually, Tiu Laurel would get the hang of the media engagement from being a government official – from quick chance interviews to lengthy ones.

Adventure of a lifetime

Tiu Laurel describes himself as a man with multiple hobbies. He loves riding utility task vehicles or UTVs. He does shooting, diving and even flying.

He photographs portraits and wildlife. He plays the guitar on Sundays.

In the 80s, he was part of a group called Audio Venture, which popularized mobile discos.

He likes rock music too. Today, he finds himself listening to Taylor Swift and Post Malone.

But all the fun things he had as a businessman had to be set aside after taking up the mantle of being the country’s agriculture chief, which he says is worth the sacrifice.

In his speeches and engagements, Tiu Laurel emphasizes the agriculture sector has been under-invested. He points out that there has been no major state investment in the industry in the past three decades.

For one, the government must spend P1.3 trillion to irrigate an additional 1.2 million hectares of farms to attain rice self-sufficiency.

The DA crafted a four-year plan that revolves around four key components aimed at modernizing agriculture through new technologies and digitalization: mechanization of farm operations, expanding irrigation coverage, enhancing logistics network and building more post-harvest facilities.

“What I want is for the lives of farmers to become better, and hopefully, they will earn enough to put their kids to school and be proud farmers and fishermen,” Tiu Laurel says.

The agriculture chief is aware that time is of the essence in achieving his goals for the sector. He says it would take 10 years, noting that finishing at least 50 percent of what he intends to do at the end of his term will be significant progress already.

From time to time, Sec. Kiko gets reminded of the phone call he got a little over a year ago. “There are moments that I get shocked that I am in this position now. I never expected this in my life. For me, this is an adventure of a lifetime,” he says.

“I just want to be known as someone who made a difference and made the situation of our farmers and fishermen better,” he concludes.