Agriculture Secretary Of Pres. Duterte Bans Meetings Of His Department In Luxury Hotels

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol has put a stop to what he described as “wanton waste of resources and funds.”

Beginning January 12, 2017, Piñol said all conferences, planning workshops and meetings will now be held within the buildings and facilities of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“There will be no exemptions,” he said.

In a post in his Facebook Page, Piñol said he is issuing a new agency directive banning meetings in luxury hotels.

“In the six months that I have been Secretary, I noticed that conferences and planning workshops were held in such areas as Tagaytay, Puerto Princesa, Baguio City and other distant areas. These trips entail huge expenses on the part of the DA using up funds which could have been used to buy an additional bag of hybrid seeds or even fertilizers for the farmers,” he wrote. “I decided to put an end to this abusive utilization of government funds.”

He ended his post with: “I can just imagine how much money could be saved by doing this.”

The Agriculture Chief, a former Governor of North Cotabato, likened the practice to Lakbay Aral “junkets” in local governments.

“The Department of Agriculture is just as guilty,” he said.

“I honestly do not know what styles of governance could be learned by swimming the blue waters of Boracay and gazing at the cavernous interiors of the Underground River,” Piñol wrote in his Facebook page.

Source: Manila Bulletin