Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol defended the government after former President Fidel Ramos said President Rodrigo Duterte's first 100 days in office was a "huge disappointment and let-down."

Piñol blamed the media's negative coverage for influencing Ramos' perception.

"It should be the media, it should be held accountable for focusing more on drugs," Piñol said on Monday. Piñol had accompanied the President in giving P80 million of farm and fishing equipment to farmers affected by the cocolisap (coconut scale insects) infestation in Basilan.

Piñol said the administration, and the agriculture department in particular, has achieved much in their first three months in government. He says these were not reported by the media.

"We're doing a lot," he said. "Kaya lang walang pumapansin sa amin (But no one is paying attention to us)."

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Piñol himself was a former journalist and boxing commentator. He wrote for newspapers and reported for radio, and also served as close-in writer to then President Ramos in 1992.

Ramos: Team Philippines losing

In an opinion piece on Duterte's first 100 days, Ramos said the country is losing badly by prioritizing the war on drugs--at the expense of issues like poverty, foreign investments and jobs.

"In the overall assessment by this writer, we find our Team Philippines losing in the first 100 days of Du30's administration - and losing badly. This is a huge disappointment and let-down to many of us," the former President wrote.

Ramos said Duterte could have met the Filipinos' expectations of him "if he had hit the ground running instead of being stuck in unending controversies about extra-judicial killings of drug suspects and in his ability at using cuss-words and insults instead of civilized language."

Ramos also called out the President for his controversial remarks against the U.S. and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Duterte already apologized for his controversial comment likening the killings of Jews during the Holocaust to the country's bloody drug war.

Ramos however said "no amount of apology could mollify the long-suffering Jews who have done well for the Philippines."

"We hope P. Digong's next 100 days will be much, much better, considering the entire gamut of Philippine problems, starting with poverty," Ramos said.

He ended his piece with hope: "Kaya natin ito (We can do this)."

Ramos' column was published on the Manila Bulletin on Saturday and is the first of two parts.

Related: Ramos says meeting with Chinese officials 'very encouraging'

Palace: We respect Ramos' opinion

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella on Thursday said the Palace respects the opinions of Ramos - who Abella says is acting "like a father."

"He's not referring to the actual actions (of the Duterte administration). He's referring to the public relations, foreign relations that tend to be affected by the President's language," Abella said.

He added that the public must be more appreciative of the president's vision for the country.

CNN Philippines' David Santos and Eimor Santos contributed to this report.