Back to government

‘After almost ten years in the private sector, I now go back to the folds of public service.’

LAST Tuesday, I was in the office of the Executive Secretary, Atty. Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., where after a half-hour meeting where many other things were discussed, I was informed that the President was disposed to appoint me to head the National Food Authority as its administrator.

On my way out of the presidential offices now back to the Guest House where I used to inflict my presence upon about a decade back, as presidential adviser on political affairs of then President Joseph Estrada, the new President Noy called me to join him and his group for merienda. And for the next thirty minutes or so, together with him and DBM Secretary Butch Abad, DILG Usec Rico E. Puno, and senior deputy executive secretary Amorado, we had soft drinks, ham and cheese sandwiches, and chicharon from Cagayan de Oro, which are truly one of the best in the country. Then, P-Noy was off to an engagement outside Malacañang.

Early Wednesday morning, the Executive Secretary surprised me with a text message congratulating me, as the President had signed my appointment, I guess the previous night, after coming back from his late afternoon or early evening engagement.

Yesterday, I met with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to whose department the National Food Authority is an attached GOCC. I also went to the NFA offices nearby, for briefings from its senior career officials on the operations and finances of the agency. The secretary has himself been immersed in almost 24/7 briefings from the department’s officials, as well as the myriad agencies, bureaus and GOCC’s created to ensure sufficient food at affordable cost in every consumer’s table, while supporting the huge army of farmers and fishermen who altogether comprise more than half of the nation’s population. It is a most daunting responsibility that Secretary Alcala faces, himself a farmer and organizer of farm cooperatives in his erstwhile Quezon congressional district, next door to my native San Pablo in Laguna.

Today as you read this, I should be meeting the central office employees of the National Food Authority, as well as most of its regional honchos. Which is why this will be one of the shortest columns I have ever written for the Malaya. It may well be one of my last regular articles for this space. I have yet to talk with my editors and the publisher regarding this public service assignment and my journalistic utility value. I am most privileged to have been allowed to use this space as a columnist for the past six years by one of the nation’s most respected and truly crusading newspapers.

After almost ten years in the private sector, I now go back to the folds of public service. On March 8, 1986, the new president’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino of beloved memory, appointed me postmaster-general to preside over the nationwide network of basic communications then called the Bureau of Posts. It was under my watch that the initiative to convert the Bureau into the Philippine Postal Corporation began, and indeed, endorsed at committee level for plenary action by the late Rep. Benny Marquez of Quezon, who headed Government Reorganization.

I came back to formal public service after years of counseling several political luminaries in between private business commitments, when Joseph Ejercito Estrada was elected president 12 years ago. I was appointed to head the Philippine Tourism Authority, the operating arm of the Department of Tourism, and concurrently presidential adviser for political affairs.

Last week was the first time I re-entered the presidential palace since the fateful day of January 20, 2001 when President Estrada was forced to leave its premises. Last Tuesday afternoon was the first time I shared the table of another president after more than nine long years.

Today I embark on another odyssey in my life, this time in charge of an agency with far more responsibility than those I have led before, for the basic reason that it involves the most basic of the Filipino’s everyday requirements – food.

On Wednesday afternoon, the president’s sister, Mrs. Pinky Aquino Abellada, after learning about my appointment, sent me her felicitations along with the prayer that I would be able to help "bro" in "improving the lives of our needy countrymen". I was moved to tears by her message, and pledged to do my best to help her "bro", President Noy, whose father Ninoy and mother Cory initiated me into public service. I owe it to their kind memory to serve their son, the President, and through him, our people, as best I could.

I pray that my readers will find the time to wish me well.

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(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 09 July 2010