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