RP appoints new farm minister

RP appoints new farm minister

PHILIPPINES: The Philippine government said on Sunday it had appointed Domingo Panganiban as its new agriculture secretary, three days after the previous farm minister resigned over tax evasion charges and amid speculation he would be sacked.

Government spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Panganiban, who has worked as an international agriculture consultant since leaving his post as Philippine agriculture undersecretary in 2001, would take up his new position on July 15.

The agriculture sector makes up about two-fifths of the Philippines' gross domestic product.

The previous farm minister, Arthur Yap, said on Thursday he was resigning due to tax evasion charges against him and amid talk that he was close to the scandal-prone husband of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Sources close to the president had said Yap was among a group of ministers that Arroyo was planning to sack in an attempt to reduce mounting pressure over allegations of electoral fraud and graft against her and her family. -- Reuters