President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the appointment of several officials of the Department of Agriculture.
Designated as Undersecretary of the DA’s Masagana Rice Industry Development Program is Christopher Morales while Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero was appointed Undersecretary for High Value Crops.
Morales, an agricultural engineer from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños with a master’s degree in development studies from Erasmus University-Rotterdam in The Netherlands, was assistant secretary of the Department of Tourism and previously served as director of DA’s disaster risk reduction and management operations center. He also served in other DA offices including the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, Philippine Rural Development Project, Field Operations Service, and Policy and Planning Office.
Natividad-Caballero, a sociology and psychology major from UP, where she also earned a master’s degree in technology management, previously served as DA undersecretary for agri-industrialization and fisheries. She also served as adviser and consultant to various agricultural projects, including the Department of Tourism’s National Farm Tourism Strategic Plan, the special committee on the North Luzon Growth Quadrangle, and PhilRice.
Dexter Respicio Buted was appointed to the board of the Philippine Coconut Authority. Buted was a former president of Pangasinan State University.
Businessman Joseph Rudolph Chan Lo was appointed director IV and will assist the Secretary on various concerns. Lo, a graduate of management economics from Ateneo de Manila University, with honors, has diverse business interests in Cebu.
Also appointed by President Marcos to various positions in the DA were the following:
– Telma Cueva Tolentino, assistant secretary for finance
– Constante de Jesus Palabrica, assistant secretary
– Ernesto Celosa Enriquez, director IV for Internal Audit Service
– Larry del Rosario Lacson, director IV
– Abbey Charles Fabian Gawaran, director III, DA regional technical director for Region XI
Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. has designated Jerome Oliveros as undersecretary for special concerns and for official development assistance, and DA assistant secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa as Oliveros’ deputy.
As undersecretary for Special Concerns and for ODA, Oliveros shall oversee the development and implementation of agricultural policies and projects for the benefit of the disadvantaged such as cultural community groups, children and persons with disabilities, as well as identify and coordinate project proposals for possible foreign aid, grant or loan, except for three ongoing World Bank-assisted projects.
The three WB-assisted projects are the Philippine Rural Development Project Additional Financing System 2 and Scale-up, Mindanao Inclusive Agricultural Development Project, and the Philippine Fisheries and Coastal Resiliency Project. These projects were left under the supervision of the DA undersecretary for operations.
De Mesa shall provide technical and administrative support to Oliveros for both ODA and other Special Concerns. #
