Facing the media after the meeting, the boat captain said he was unsure if the Chinese vessel intentionally hit their boat at midnight on June 9, contrary to his earlier pronouncements. Junel Insigne, captain of F/B Gem-Ver which sank after being hit by a Chinese vessel near Reed Bank, seemed in a daze after the meeting with Piñol.

In a statement, Association of Free Framers (AFF) Vice President Teody De Belen said his group, which is composed of farmers and fisherfolks, criticized Pinol for using most of the projects under the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) under the DA and concentrated these in North Cotabato province to enhance the campaign of daughter Ma. Krista Piñol, who is running for Board Member in the second district, his siblings Socrates Piñol who is running for Vice Governor, Efren Piñol who is running as congressman for 2nd district, Bernardo Piñol Jr., for Kidapawan City Mayor and Joselito Piñol who is running for Vice Mayor of Mlang. ?Why is Secretary Piñol concentrating on just one province and using government projects to help boost the campaign of his allies,? De Belen said.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol sought to ease public concerns over consuming weevil-infested rice and galunggong (round scad) by sampling them himself on live television on Friday, August 31. Piñol paired the rice with galunggong which was in the news as well as its imported version supposedly contained formalin. The DA allowed imports of galunggong to maintain a steady supply in markets as closed fishing season neared.

August, 2018 - In an Aug. 28 interview on ABS-CBN News Channel's Headstart, he said: ?I?m making a proposal: Kasi tradisyon sa kanila ?yung umasa ng bigas sa kabila eh, so sabi ko (Since it?s tradition in the area to smuggle rice), rather than allow smuggling, an illegal activity, to continue, we might as well legalize it.? September, 2018 - Piñol, recently in the news for sampling bukbok (weevil)-infested rice, complained in a Sept. 3 open letter to Communications Secretary Martin Andanar: ?I am deeply disappointed that a reporter of PTV4, a government television channel, would cause further misunderstanding and confusion on a very important issue by asking President Rody Duterte whether he approves of my proposal to ?legalize rice smuggling? in the ZAMBASULTA (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi) area.?

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol has filed a cyber-libel complaint against a Baguio City-based journalist for alleging in a Facebook post that the official got richer by P21 million. Named respondent in the complaint filed Wednesday was Frank Cimatu, who uploaded on his Facebook account a post that said: "Agri sec got rich by P21-M in 6 months. Bird flu pa more."

Former Cotabato governor Emmanuel Piñol had conceded defeat Tuesday afternoon to incumbent Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza. Piñol, however, said his rival won by giving away rice and money to entice the voters, a claim refuted by the latter. In his website, Piñol wrote: ?It is painful to realize that many of the people I loved and cared for succumbed to the temptations of rice and money.?