Engr. Cesario G. Sambrana took his oath of office as Deputy Administrator before Agriculture Secretary William Dar on March 7 at the DA Central Office in Quezon City. He got his official appointment as the Deputy Administrator for Operations (DAOp) of the National Tobacco Administration, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 4.
As head of Operations, he has direct supervision of the eight NTA Branch Offices, the Farm Technology and Services Department, the Industrial Research Department, and the Regulation Department.
Before his appointment, Sambrana was designated acting DAOp on April 7, 2021, in concurrent capacity as NTA Pangasinan Manager. He was also the manager in charge of NTA Candon until December 2021.
He has been pushing forward its vision to modernize and industrialize the country’s tobacco industry, in line with the Sustainable Tobacco Enhancement Program of NTA and the OneDA Reform Agenda of the Department of Agriculture.
Through modernization, he said, the industry can produce self-reliant farmers organizations who produce tobacco of global quality. “We lift up the socio-economic well-being of the farmers as we contribute to the economic development of our country,” he added.
Sambrana is a licensed Agricultural Engineer, with a master’s degree in Development Administration from the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in Agoo, La Union. He has been working in the industry for more than four decades, holding various positions until his latest promotion.
[Photo: John James Canosa]