{"id":179764,"date":"2018-09-02T23:08:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T03:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=179764"},"modified":"2018-09-02T23:08:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T03:08:15","slug":"pinol-tawi-tawi-rice-center-wasnt-presented-proper-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/02\/pinol-tawi-tawi-rice-center-wasnt-presented-proper-context\/","title":{"rendered":"Pi\u00f1ol: Tawi-Tawi rice center wasn\u2019t presented in ‘proper context’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pi\u00f1ol announces his support for supplying rice rather than providing cash allowance to the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries during a press briefing in Malaca\u00f1ang on January 18, 2017. TOTO LOZANO\/Presidential Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Pi\u00f1ol on Monday said he was \u201csaddened\u201d that his idea to establish a rice trading center in Tawi-Tawi to end the country\u2019s rice crisis was not put in \u201cproper context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am saddened that the idea of setting up a Rice Trading Center in Tawi-Tawi to put an end to rice smuggling and raise revenues estimated at between PHP 1-B to P2-B every year was not presented by a reporter in the proper context,\u201d Pi\u00f1ol said in a Facebook post Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was presented in a manner that it would appear that I am proposing the entry of smuggled rice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pi\u00f1ol made this remark after President Rodrigo Duterte rejected his suggestion to put up a rice trading center in the island-province as a solution to the country\u2019s dwindling rice supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smuggling itself? No, of course not, that will be destructive to the economy. You\u2019d put down in the market in turmoil,\u201d Duterte said during a press conference at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 before his departure to Israel and Jordan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmuggled rice unrestrained? That would promote disorder in this country,\u201d the President added.<\/p>\n

Duterte said he preferred smuggled rice to be confiscated and either distributed for free or sold at lower prices.<\/p>\n

Pi\u00f1ol said he will submit a memorandum to the President on this matter when the latter returns to the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Grateful<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DA chief, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to Duterte for his continued trust amid calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank President Duterte for his continued trust and confidence. I promise to do my best to live up to his and the Filipino people’s expectations,\u201d Pi\u00f1ol said.<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier said the solution to the current rice problems did not \u201cnecessarily\u201d involve firing people.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, all officials including me are bound by laws on the matter. Rice, whatever it is, there are laws to be followed. Maybe the laws are weak or unenforceable. All we have to do is to improve on those laws, not necessarily fire people,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pi\u00f1ol clarified that he had no plans to run as senator after Duterte said those calling for Pi\u00f1ol\u2019s resignation only had to wait until he runs for senator in the 2019 mid-term elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cHintayin na lang ninyo because October, I think Bello (referring to Pi\u00f1ol) is going to run for senator, there\u2019s no need to fire him. You just wait, September, October,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Pi\u00f1ol could not say whether the President was referring to him or Bello but noted the Chief Executive knew he had no desire to join the senatorial race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know if the President was referring to me when he said that \u2018Bello\u2019 will run for Senator. If it was me, I know the President is aware that I neither have plans nor desire to run for the Senate,\u201d Pi\u00f1ol said.<\/p>\n

He also apologized for not being able to join the President\u2019s historic visits to Israel and Jordan, stressing he had pressing matters to prioritize.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish the President a successful trip to Israel and Jordan. I apologize that I could not join the Presidential Trip because I believe there are very pressing matters here in my Department that I have to attend to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Pi\u00f1ol on Monday said he was \u201csaddened\u201d that his idea to establish …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":179619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}