Press Release
February 19, 2019

Transcript of interview with Sen. Cynthia Villar during the launching of the Program to Improve Rice Productivity and Mechanization for Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Organizations, Villar SIPAG Farm School, Bacoor, Cavite

Q: Tumututol daw po ang mga magsasaka sa pagpirma ng rice tariffication?

Villar: Totoo bang mga magsasaka? Nandito ang mga magsasaka, iba iyong organization, iba rin iyong nasa ibaba. Natatandaan nyo ba last time noong may smuggling, hindi ba ang kinunan nila ng kanilang import permit ay magsasaka, cooperative ng magsasaka binayaran nila. Tapos noong kinuha nila iyong import permit, dinagdagan nila, nahuli sila. Tapos ang nakulong iyong mga magsasaka kasi ang pangalan na nasa import permit, nasa magsasaka. That is manipulation of poor farmers.

Q: Sa tingin ninyo bakit hinaharang ng NFA ang rice tariffication?

Villar: I think ang NFA kaya nila hinaharang ayaw niyang mawala ang power to control imports. Kasi iyon lang naman ang tinanggal sa kanya. Iyong pagbili sa local farmers, hindi. Parehong budget, ang instruction lang ay bumili sa local farmers. But that is their job, that is their mandate, to buy from the local farmers at a certain price and sell it to consumers at a lower price. Iyon ang mandate ng NFA. It was never to control imports.

Q: Ano ang masasabi ninyo sa pag-iyak nung head ng NFA?

Villar: Kung mahal niya ang mga tao, bakit hindi nila napigil na nagbebenta ng 45, 55 at 65 noong last quarter of the year. Hindi ba ang trabaho nila to stabilize the prices of rice, bakit hindi nila inistabilize ang presyo?

Q: Ano po ang pinirmahan ng DAR, ATI, TESDA, Philmech at PhilRice dito ngayon?

Villar: Na magtuturo sila ng mechanization, saka production of inbred seeds to increase the production of farmers from 4 metric tons to 6 metric tons. Philmech, PhilRice, ATI, saka TESDA, sila ang in-charge of training

Q: Meron bang timeline ito?

Villar: 6 years.

Q: Mapapakinabangan na agad ng farmers?

Villar: We are going to do this. We are doing this 4 months ago. Napo-foresee na namin ito and the budget is for 6 years. The budget for 2019 is in the national budget

Q: Sinabi ninyo kanina na ang rice tariffication hindi anti-poor?

Villar: How can it be anti-poor tina-tariffy mo ang imported? Ikaw tatanungin ko, kapag tinariffy mo ba ang imported, is that anti-poor? It is helping the Filipino farmers. And then iyong makukuha nila sa tariff ibibigay pa sa kanila at the rate of P10 billion a year kasama sa national budget for them to be competitive. It cannot be anti-poor.

Q: Ano po iyong UN FAO prediction on shortage of food?

Villar: By 2050 there will be shortage of food because our population will grow from 7 billion to 9 billion. We need to increase 70% of our food production to meet the needs of the 9 billion population. We don't want that to happen so we are teaching them how to produce more at a lower cost. The earlier the better. Kaya ito ang reason for that and we are teaching them how to do it. In the end it's educational and developmental . Iyon ang pinakamagandang maibibigay natin kasi marunong sila, walang makakaagaw nun sa kanila. Walang makakaloko sa kanila kasi marunong sila.

News Latest News Feed