MANILA, Philippines — A visibly irked Senator Cynthia Villar did not mince her words when she found out a huge part of the Agriculture department’s National Corn Program will be allocated for research.

“Parang lahat ng inyong budget puro research? Baliw na baliw kayo sa research. Aanhin niyo ba yung research?” Villar said Wednesday during the Senate budget hearing for the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies.

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(It seems like all of your budget goes to research. You are so crazy about research. What will you do with those research?)

“Ako matalino akong tao pero hindi ko maintindihan yung research niyo, lalo na yung farmer. Gusto ba ng farmer yung research? Hindi ba gusto nila tulungan niyo sila? Bakit ba lahat ng budget niyo research?” she added.

(I’m a smart person but I don’t understand your research, what more of the farmers. Does a farmer want research? Don’t they want you to help them? Why is it that all of your budget goes to research?)

Under the National Corn Program’s proposed budget for 2020, P150 million was allocated for research.

“Ayusin niyo ‘to. Imagine calamity assistance P265 million? P150 million ang research? Eh ‘di P400 million na yon?” Villar lamented.

(Fix this. Imagine, calamity assistance for P265 million? P150 million for research? That’s P400 million already.)

If she were a farmer, Villar stressed she would prefer to receive seeds or machineries above anything else.

“Kung ako farmer, mas gusto ko nang bigyan ako ng seeds, bigyan ako ng machineries kaysa yung mga kung anu ano,” she said.

(If I were a farmer, I would like to be given seeds, be given machineries, instead of whatever.)

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For the National Corn Program’s part, its national coordinator Lorenzo Carangan said they do give assistance to farmers under their proposed budget in the form of seeds and fertilizers.

“In the case po ng techno[logical] demo[nstration] projects and modern cluster, farmers are being assisted in the form of seeds and fertilizers,” Carangan said.

(In the case of technological demonstration projects and modern cluster, farmers are being assisted in the form of seeds and fertilizers.) /jpv

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