·~::O:.!=e::<"'---'::!.1=='==-t==~===,~·-==r---=:~-=-===-::'=!~--"==-~::!:!"=====-----===-:::-- ==-~~-=~L'10=...~= It is said that the figures show government's neglect of the agriculture sector and giving priority on the service and industry sectors. This is being related on how government implements agrarian reform and provision of support services to the farmers and fisherfolks. 14 Others would argue, however, that the Philippines is gradually shifting from an agrarian to an industrial and service-oriented economy. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, this situation demonstrates that the agriculture sector is comprised of vulnerable and marginalized Filipinos who are left out in the so called development agenda. It is within this context that the research is being pursued from May to November 2016, as regards the time frame. More so, it is when the Philippines elected a new president, and hence at a transitory period between the old and the new administrations. Then presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte announced15 his economic priorities as follows: 1. Continue and maintain the current macroeconomic policies. However, reforms in tax revenue collection (in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs) efforts will be complemented by reforms within the bureaucracy of these tax collecting agencies. 2. Accelerate infrastructure spending by addressing, among others, major bottlenecks in the public-private partnership (PPP) program. Maintain the target of setting aside 5% of the country's gross domestic product to infrastructure spending. 3. Ensure attractiveness of the Philippines to foreign direct investments by addressing restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution and our laws, and enhancing competitiveness of the economy. 4. Pursue a genuine agricultural development strategy by providing support services to the small farmers to increase their productivity, improve their market access, and develop the agricultural value chain by forging partnership with agribusiness firms. 5. Address the bottlenecks in our land administration and management system. 6. Strengthen our basic education system and provide scholarships for tertiary education which are relevant to the needs of private sector employees. 7. Improve the income tax system to make it progressive to enable those who earn little to have more money in their pockets. 8. Expand and improve implementation of the conditional cash transfer (ccn program. Certainly, the new President is informed about the economic performance of his predecessor when he came up with the above guiding principles. Yet, as of this writing, the details on how the Duterte Administration would pursue these economic policies are still in the pipeline. The resource persons from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform who were invited to participate during the focus group discussions (July 28 and August 17, 2016) for this research stated that they are still reviewing the policies of the previous administration, particularly on agribusiness venture agreements. Significantly however, it would seem that both the Aquino and Duterte Administrations have mentioned agriculture as part of their economic agenda, albeit it was observed that Aquino sparsely mentioned any accomplishment on the agriculture sector during his last State of the Nation Address 16 on July 27, 2015. Still, we mostly refer to the economic policies of the Aquino Administration from 2010 to 2016 in finding answers to our research questions. 14 Bajpai, P. (Sep. 18, 2015) Emerging markets: Analyzing the Philippines' GDP http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/091815/emerging-markets-analyzing-philippines-gdp.asp (accessed August 17, 2016) 15 Mara Cepeda (May 16, 2016) Transition team bares Duterte's 8-point economic agenda http://www.rawler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/132850-duterte-8-point-economic-agenda (accessed October 5, 2016) 16 Source: Offidal Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines http://www.gov.ph/2015/07/27/english-president-aguinosixth-sonal (accessed October 5, 2016) 6