Directors Profile

was designated as the National Director of the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program on August 15, 2022.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts – Major in Writing. He then pursued his graduate studies, taking a master’s degree in Development Management from UPLB and Master in Development Economics from UP Diliman campus. He has been a Civil Service Professional since 1988 and was certified as an Agriculturist in 2017 and Environmental Planner in 2019. He is also Career Executive Service Eligible (CESE).Serving the agricultural sector for 34 years, he started his career in the Department of Agriculture (DA) as an Agricultural Specialist and Economic Researcher for the Special Concerns Office (SCO) in 1988. He then became a Project Development Officer II in the Research and Project Development Division of the Special Concerns Office (SCO) in 1989 to 1994.

In 1994, he became a Marketing Information and Needs Assessment (MINA) Team Leader under the USAID-supported Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) – Agricultural Marketing Information System (AGMARIS) Project. After a year,

he resumed as a Project Development Officer II of the  Research and Project Development Division (RPDD), Planning and Monitoring Service (PMS), and Public Investment Program Division (PIPD), Planning Service until 1999. From 1999 to 2015, he was promoted and served as a Planning Officer IV (formerly Project Development Officer IV) under the Investment Programming Division, (IPD), Planning and Monitoring Service.He then served as Chief of the Planning and Programming Division (PPD), Planning and Monitoring Service since 2015, in which he provided assistance in the development of the DA-SAAD Program – its proposal, guidelines, operations manual, and social preparation guidebook.

He worked closely with the previous leaders of the program from the then Assistant Secretary for Planning, Project Development, and Special Projects, Mr. Lerey A. Panes in 2017, followed by Ms. Bernadette F. San Juan who led the program from 2017 to 2019, and Dr. Myer G. Mula, from 2019 to 2022.Having an eye to witness and lead the day-to-day operations, enriching his experience in supervising the National Program Management Office (NPMO), he also performed duties as the Planning and Monitoring Head and Head of the PR and Communications cluster. He was designated as the SAAD Deputy Director in 2019.The goals of the program remain to help alleviate poverty in the marginalized sector by ensuring that sustenance and livelihood opportunities would be provided through agricultural interventions and technical support for the sustainability of the projects, enabling enterprise development.

As the DA-SAAD program proceeds to its second phase of implementation in 2023, SAAD remains committed to expanding and accommodating more farmers and fishers, with continuous policy strengthening, and study, to reach more communities under Mr. Lustria’s leadership.

Mr. Lerey A. Panes

January 2017 – October 2017

Appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Assistant Secretary for Planning, Project Development, and Special Projects in 2016. Former DA Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol designated Mr. Panes as the director of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program, which started implementing in 2017.