Villar wants to keep farm committee leadership

MAASIN CITY, July 3 (PNA) - Senator Cynthia Villar wants to retain her post as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture in the 17th Congress.

Villar, speaking to reporters during her visit to this city on Saturday, said that she has already came up with legislative agenda aligned for the agriculture sector.

“I had done a lot during the last three years. I have legislative agenda for agriculture for the next three years, I learned a lot from this committee and I want to share it for the sake of making agriculture sustainable,” she said.

In her three years as chairperson of agriculture committee, Villar pushed for the passage of 16 significant bill on agriculture and fisheries. Six of these bills are now enacted into law.

First is Republic Act (RA) No.10659 or the Sugar Industry Development Act that provides more assistance to sugar workers to boost local sugar competitiveness.

Another law is the RA 10654 or the act to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This law resulted to lifting of the yellow tag imposed by the European Union.

RA 10848 extends the period of implementation of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) up to year 2022. The law sets aside 80 percent of fund as loan to micro and small enterprises with minimal interest to be managed by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

RA 10845 or the act declaring large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage and provides penalty of life imprisonment and fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural product.

RA 10816 or the Farm Tourism Development Act encourages development of farm areas into tourism attraction.

The latest is RA 10817 that encourage development of farm areas into tourism attraction and the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act that creates the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Board.

“I believe that we need to improve our agriculture industry, support the promotion of farming to children that will support our food sufficiency,” the official added. (PNA)

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