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(Eagle News) — A top official of the Philippine Carabao Center received a tongue-lashing from a very dismayed Senator Cynthia Villa who severely criticized the agency for its failure to properly use funds meant to increase production of carabao milk in the country.
Villar castigated the Executive Director of the Philippine Carabao Center, Dr. Arnel del Barrio, accusing him of misusing funds meant for the development of a carabao processing center, and for other efforts that could enable the country to meet the milk needs of its people.
As it is, after 28 years since it was established in 1992, Villar pointed out that PCC had failed to increase carabao milk production sufficiently as more than 99 percent of the country’s milk needs are still imported. She said only less than one percent, or 0.6 percent are being provided by the local milk production.
“Tawag ako nang tawag sa iyo ayaw kang makinig. Kaya ako dissappointed sa inyo. Ako na ang nagbigay nung budget e. Sinasabi ko yung gagawin mo. Ayaw mong gawin. E di lalo n dun sa budget ko. Anong ginawa mo sa budget mo. Kung yung budget ko, ayaw mong galawin e di lalo na yung budget mo! Nasanay ata kayo kung saan-saan dinadala budget niyo,” Villar said as she questioned Del Barrio on what happened to the funds allocated to the agency.
Villar questioned how the PCC used the P10 million fund each for 28 allocations supposedly to be used for carabao milk production, and to be build processing centers for carabo milk to ensure that it would be more affordable to the public. This is aside from the P500 million yearly budget of the PCC.
Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, authored Proposed Senate Resolution No. 504 directing an inquiry on the state of the dairy industry as implemented by the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) under the Department of Agriculture.
“The NDA and the PCC have been in existence for 25 years and 28 years, respectively, and we continue to import more than 99 percent of our demand for dairy. This means we have been missing the opportunity to make our kababayan, especially the farmers, benefit from the dairy industry as a source of additional income and for our children to have access to affordable milk,” Villar said.
-Villar questions how PCC funds had been used-
Villar also inquired from Del Barrio why the P450-million worth of projects that will build dairy processing centers to 28 locations and provide intercropping opportunities to coconut farmers in different parts of the country was not implemented.
Her office has allocated P10 million each to 28 locations or a total of P280 million for the project aside from the budget of PCC. She had also asked the Philippine Coconut Authority to allocate P170 million for 17 coconut producing provinces to make a total of P450 million, according to a release from Villar’s office.
Villar said the total milk production in 2018 is 23,690,000 liters while the demand is 2.345 billion liters, showing that local production is only at 0.6966%, even less than 1% of the total demand of milk by Filipinos.
She also cited the Commission on Audit (COA) Report released in January 2020, saying that the dairy program that cost P2.85 billion to implement appears to have achieved only “minimal improvement” in increasing the number of dairy animals In the Philippines.
“We are holding this inquiry in order to find out why the dairy industry has not been contributing as expected in increasing the milk production and the increase in the number of dairy animals. This is despite having two government agencies assisting farmers,” she said.
“More than 23 years have passed for the country’s dairy program to fly but it has remained on the ground,” Villar said.
“The objective is to improve dairy production to ultimately make an Impact on reducing poverty and improving child nutrition in many rural households,” she added.
During the hearing, among the issues raised is the non-delivery or incomplete delivery in some areas of dairy animals. The absence of processing centers and training program for forage production are also among the problems identified.
Since last year, Villar said she has been working on a project establishing Carabao-Based Enterprise Development Centers all over the country after her encounter with a local housewife in Ubay, Bohol, who raised one milking carabaos and sells the milk to the dairy processing center. This model provided an opportunity for the housewife to earn Php 300 a day or Php 9,000 a month.
Villar said she wants to give the same opportunity to other people in the country and has identified 28 areas where the model will be replicated. These areas include Abra, La Union, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Vizacaya, Bataan, Bulacan, Laguna, Tarlac, Palawan, Albay, Masbate, Negros Oriental, Iloilo, Cebu, Siquijor, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, North Cotabato, and South Cotabato.
The senator said she also introduced the amendment in Republic Act 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act, which requires the sourcing of fresh milk and fresh milk-based products from local dairy farmers and cooperatives.
“With this provision, the law institutionalizing a national feeding program will not only address undernourishment among children, but will also create a market for local dairy which, if sustained, will eventually develop our local dairy industry,” Villar said.
At the end of the hearing, Villar tasked the PCC to provide the Senate the details on how the agency used the funds meant to increase carabao milk production.
(With a report from Meanne Corvera, Eagle News Service)
