Collateral Damage! In Defense Of An Honest, Competent Govt. Worker

The feud between Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban and Undersecretary Leo Sebastian has resulted in the relief of one of the most honest and dedicated Agriculture officials I have known in my entire career as a public servant.
Dr. Sailila Abdula, PhD, a rice breeder who was the first Bangsamoro to head the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) when I was Secretary of Agriculture, was recently relieved as Acting Regional Director of DA 12, a post he was holding by Secondment.
When I was Agriculture Secretary, I discovered Dr. Abdula who was chief of the Midsayap Research Station of PhilRice and I endorsed him to head PhilRice but he refused a Presidential Appointment as PhilRice Executive Director.
He also refused to be appointed as DA Regional Director later because he was holding a permanent position in PhilRice as Chief of the Midsayap Research Station.
A Presidential Appointment would have made his employment status co-terminus with the term of then President Rodrigo Duterte.
At 46, he said he was too young to leave government service, besides he still had young children who rely on his monthly salary for their college education.
So, he assumed as PhilRice Executive Director in an acting capacity.
When I resigned as DA Secretary, Dr. Abdula gave up the PhilRice Post but he was later designated as Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research and later as Acting Director of DA 12 and Assistant Secretary for the Bangsamoro Region.
He was straight as a rod and suppliers of DA were warned not to make any “transactional” offer to him because they would surely be blacklisted.
As a Rice Scientist, Dr. Abdula received an award from the International Rice Research Institute for his role in developing tungro-resistant rice varieties such as NSIC Rc120 and Rc226 which helped manage the disease in Southern Mindanao.
He earned his Doctorate Degree in South Korea and is credited with breeding and developing some of the outstanding Rice varieties in the Philippines.
Last week, he was on his way to the DA Management Committee meeting in Zamboanga City when a Memorandum issued by Usec. Panganiban ordered his relief as Acting Director of DA 12.
Dr. Abdula is known as straight and strict but his only liability was that he was identified as “tao” of Usec. Sebastian because the latter was Dr. Abdula’s boss in PhilRice.
There could possibly be another reason why he was relieved unceremoniously and this was his opposition to the program of the DA to procure bio-fertilizer from just one source.
Since he was on Secondment, meaning he was taken out of his post as Chief of the PhilRice Center in Midsayap, North Cotabato to serve as Acting DA Director, Dr. Abdula quietly went back to his Mother Agency, PhilRice.
There was no complaint or resistance on the part of Dr. Abdula over his unexpected relief. In fact, as soon as he received the Panganiban Memo, he immediately turned over the post to the designated Acting Director John Pascual.
I have to take the cudgels for Dr. Abdula, however, because his unceremonious relief from DA 12 was a great loss to the DA which had long suffered from an image problem of an agency plagued with issues of corruption.
I am taking this up publicly hoping that this issue reaches the attention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is also the concurrent Agriculture Secretary.
Ganito ba ang trato natin sa mga matitinong opisyal ng gobyerno, specifically DA?
If the trustworthy, honest and hardworking officials of government are treated this way, sino pa ang maninindigan laban sa katiwalian?
Is this a sign that everybody in government has to “play ball” or else…?
#HonorHonestGovtWorkers!