Reader, let’s do a mental exercise.  Put yourself in place of a head-hunter, or a Human Resource expert, or, let’s be honest,  PBBM.  You are tasked with looking for the most qualified person to head the Department of Agriculture (the DA), which oversees the agriculture, fisheries and forestry (AFF) sector of the economy.

How important is AFF in the economy ?  Well, latest data from the PSA show that it accounts for about 8.5 to 9.0 %  of total output (GDP), with fisheries accounting for 1.3 percentage points.  It accounts for 20% of total employment (4 percentage points of which are fisherfolk).    Moreover, farmers and fisherfolk are among poorest basic sectors, with poverty incidence of  30 and 30.6% respectively (compared to a national poverty incidence of 18.1% ).  In 2021, there were 348,000 poor fisherfolk, and 2.4 million farmers.  Finally, a WB study finds that agricultural growth has special powers in reducing poverty:   GDP growth originating in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating outside agriculture

So it is very important, right?  But to continue: You have narrowed the candidates down to two, with the following respective Curricula Vitae .  These CV are not as complete as one would like them to be, having been obtained from the googling the candidates and from news reports, rather than having the candidates submit their own.  But the data given should be sufficient to make a judgment.