Sec. Piñol lambasts Yellow army tagging Duterte admin as "credit grabber" over MMOV, Aquino admin more failures revealed

Multi-Mission Offshore Vessel (MMOV)  / photo from Sec. Manny Pinol's Facebook Page (ctto)

“Governance is a relay run, no one owns government projects” said the Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol after the Duterte administration was labelled as “credit grabber” by some Yellow Army.

Though he did not mention the specific source, Sec. Piñol described the supporters of previous administration are “literally frothing in the mouth and seething with madness and envy” after the Multi-Mission Offshore Vessel (MMOV) were “commissioned” by President Rodrigo Duterte.

These ships were made by Filipino shipbuilders in Navotas, a world class sea craft and first of its kind. It will be used to protect the Philippine waters and also to bring commodities to other provinces if needed.

The said vessels project indeed started under Aquino administration but was continued by current leader Rodrigo Duterte, the secretary explained.

Sec. Piñol said that he made it clear during the blessing of the two vessels in Navotas that the project was started by previous administration, in fact, even the former Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Director Asis Perez, along with previous BFAR officials, were present during the event and were acknowledged for their contribution to the success of the said project.

“Acknowledgement yes. But for the Yellow Army to demand that it should be made clear that it was President Aquino who started the project is a display of ignorance on how government works.” The DA secretary said.

To best explain how the government really works, he used the rules of a relay-run, where he said that Presidents “are like runners in a-400-meter relay.”

“Somebody comes out of the starting block, passes the baton to the second runner who then turns it over to the third runner and who gives it to the last runner to finish the race.” He said

“If the team wins in the end, the victory could not just be credited to anyone of the runners.” He added.

And to speak of success, there were also failures which Sec. Piñol inflicted to former Aquino admin. 

He enumerated some, like how the former build so many Rice Processing Complex all over where most of it were just left idle.

“The Aquino Administration built so many Agri-Pinoy Trading Centers, including the BAPTC in Benguet, costing hundreds of millions of pesos which were virtually ghost buildings simply because nobody occupied these.” The DA Sec continued.

“The Aquino Administration left behind farm machineries and equipment worth P4-B which were not given out to farmers because government required a 15% equity.” 

“The Aquino Administration approved a contract for the supply of goats costing P175,000 each which I believe was grossly overpriced.” He added.

These are just some problems left by former President Nonoy Aquino’s administration. The current DA chief said that there are more questionable transactions. 

“There were other questionable transactions but I preferred to look forward than nitpick on the mistakes of the past because that is how I believe governance should be.” Mr. Piñol said.

“Work on and continue the good projects initiated by the previous administration, correct the flawed ones and learn from the mistakes of the past then move forward.”

“Governance after all is a relay run.” He added.

Finally, he cited the latest controversy of the P3.6-B dengue vaccine from Aquino’s admin. 

“I doubt it very much if the previous administration would own up to it.” Says the DA secretary.

“That is precisely the problem with the thinking that previous Presidents should be credited with the things that they did. You cannot just lay claim to the good ones and wash hands on the messy ones.” He said.

Source: Manny Piñol FB Page