At least 75 civic organizations have signed a petition urging Senator Cynthia Villar to resign as chairperson of two Senate Committees over a conflict of interest.
The groups demanded Villar to quit as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, and Committee on Agriculture and Food and Agrarian Reform.
“We question Senator Villar's capacity to serve the interest of Filipino farmers, who comprise the majority of our population, as this contradicts her family's business interest. As a land-owning elite who converts lands for a living, the class interest of the Senator can never be reconciled with the interest of ordinary farmers to own the land they have been tilling for decades,” the petition reads.
The petition comes after Villar defended the conversion of agricultural lands to residential and commercial subdivisions during a heated exchange with Senator Raffy Tulfo in the Senate last week.
The groups asserted that agri-lands should be “distributed” and “owned” by local farmers who have been working hard to ensure that Filipino families have food to eat on their tables.
They also claimed that several proposed House bills such as the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, the Rice Industry Development Act, and the National Land Use Act have been pending in Congress due to Villar.
Apart from this, the petitioners wanted Villar to be accountable for the rice importation in the country that had resulted in “the drastic plunging of palay prices and Php 206 billion losses for farmers.”
Villar is the principal author of the Rice Tariffication law.
The Republic Act 11203 or Rice Tariffication law has removed the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on rice imports and replaced them with tariffs.
"Amid the worsening crisis on food and agriculture, we need sincere public servants who genuinely understand the plight of Filipinos,” the groups further said.
Among the organizations that signed the petition are Anakpawis, Pamalakaya, Agham Youth, University of the Philippines-Diliman, University Student Council, UP Manila Pre-Law Society, and Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines.
