Cynthia Villar claims farmers and fishermen “don’t understand” climate change
CYNTHIA VILLAR – A group chastised the senator for allegedly insulting farmers and fishermen after she said in a Senate hearing that they know nothing when it comes to the issue of climate change.
Villar’s claim that farmers and fishermen know nothing about climate change, according to the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA)-Youth group, is an insult to farmers and fishermen.
“They experience the worst droughts and strongest typhoons, while Cynthia Villar sits pretty in her air-conditioned room, contemplating on which agricultural land she will steal and convert next,” the group said.
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) proposed 2023 budget on Wednesday, DA Climate Resilient Agriculture Office Director Alicia Ilaga discussed the impact of climate change on agriculture as well as their programs to assist farmers and fishermen in this regard.
Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Agriculture Committee, immediately intervened and insisted that the DA should take steps to mitigate the effects of climate change on them.
“Ano gagawin mo sa lugar na tinatamaan ng ano, paano siya tinatamaan? Dapat gagawa ka na ang DA ng project to stop that, huwag mong aasahan ang farmers and fishermen, because they don’t know anything,” she stressed.
According to her, addressing climate change should be the work of the agriculture department because fishermen and farmers know nothing about it.
Meanwhile, the group accused Villar of only using her position in the Senate in favor of their family’s business interests.
The agriculture department is currently being led by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
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