Cynthia Villar reveals more of her work and her life outside politics

I spent a not-so-ordinary afternoon at a Children’s Farm in Las Las Piñas City a few weeks ago and was amazed at the bunch of fun activities you can do there. There’s a zipline, kids were horseback riding, I even tried to feed some animals.

But the children’s farm is just the tip of a more substantial purpose. It is located at the center of a Farm School, a project initiated by Sen. Cynthia Villar.

“Natutuwa ako sa mga bata kasi gusto ko maaga pa sa mga buhay nila, ma-encourage na sila sa agriculture para naman may future ang agriculture sa Pilipinas,” said Sen. Cynthia.

“So, I thought if I establish a farm school and young children will be exposed to a farm in their early years, baka naman mas maraming maging farmer in the future.”

Some of the courses offered at the farm school are rice farm mechanization, vegetable farming, aquaculture and farm business management.

Under the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016, the farm school has been replicated and has multiplied to around 3,000 farm schools and tourist farms all over the country.

Sen. Cynthia added that poverty reduction is the main goal of the Villar Foundation and it is in agriculture that poverty is very rampant.

“Napakaliit po ng kita ng mga farmers natin, imagine the coconut farmer, P1,500 a month, ang rice farmer P5,000 a month. Kita ba yun? Wala pa yun sa minimum wage. At least dapat mga minimum wage man lang para naman maka-suporta sa kanilang pamilya at para maganda ang ipapakain nila sa kanilang mga anak,” she said.

The road to success of Sen. Cynthia’s agricultural projects was definitely not a smooth one. In 2019, the Rice Tariffication Law gained a lot of resistance from the public and other agencies when it was signed into Law by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

But three years later, the senator said the cost of rice has stabilized because rice farming in the country is now being mechanized. That’s only one of the many benefits of the Rice Tarrification Law which the senator authored.

Part of this law is the creation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or what is called simply by farmers as RCEF. P10 billion of the tariff a year from the unlimited importation of rice is given back to the farmers for their loans, trainings and free inbred rice seeds.

From Rice Tariffication, we also talked about the senator’s environmental projects which she started in Las Piñas.

When she was congresswoman, she put up the first composting facility which won an international award in Austria for being one of the world’s best environmental projects. Now, there are 89 composting facilities and she was able to bring down their waste budget in Las Piñas from P400 million a year to P100 million a year. A big savings to the Las Piñas local government unit (LGU).

It was also in Las Piñas where the senator started weaving waterlilies, notoriously known as aquatic pests and the cause of flooding in the city, but now as source of livelihood for some of the women in the city.

The brilliant concept of recycling soft plastic waste and transforming them into school chairs is also the senator’s brainchild. The plastic school chairs are being donated to public schools and farm schools all over the country.

All the laws that she authored have a deep impact in the country especially in the lives of our farmers. But her heart keeps going back to her home in Las Piñas. Her love for the city and the Las Piñeros was rooted from childhood, when her father served as mayor of the city for 22 years.

“It is unfair for us not to continue yung kanyang work kasi masisira yung legacy niya sa Las Piñas. Kaya ako, kino-continue ko yung work, ” said Sen. Cynthia.

Kung meron kang isang political lesson na natutunan sa inyong ama, ano yon?

“Tingin ko sincerity, sincerity. You have to be sincere in what you’re doing. Kasi ‘pag sincere ka, hindi ka matatakot. Kung mamintas sila, wala ka namang bad intention eh, basta sigurado ka, wala kang dapat ikahiya because you are really sincere.”

If you learned a political lesson from your husband, ano yon?

“Very patient. Hindi nagagalit.”

As a person, as a government official, what is most fulfilling about what you do?

“Because you must be remembered for something good. I want to be remembered for this. I made a difference in the lives of farmers and fishermen and the poor people in our locality. I am happy.”

Sen. Cynthia reveals more of her work and her life outside politics. She talks about her children and her role as a mother, a grandmother and wife to the man labeled as the richest man in the country. Watch the full version of this interview on my Facebook and YouTube page on June 30 and July 7. And also on GMA’s Fast Talk from June 26 to June 30.