Villar: Filipinos can live without ‘galunggong’

Sen. Cynthia Villar. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA

Filipinos can live without “galunggong” or round scad.

Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said this on Tuesday as she rejected the government’s plan to import galunggong.

READ: ‘Galunggong’ imports to stabilize fish prices

“E bakit naman tayo mag i-import? Maghanap na lang tayo ng alternative (Why do we need to import? Let’s just find an alternative),” she said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Sinabi nyo na may formalin ang galunggong. Pwede naman tayo mabuhay ng walang galunggong. Kumain tayo ng gulay (You said galunggong has formalin. We can live without galunggong. Let’s eat vegetables),” Villar added.

READ: Gov’t won’t allow importation of formalin-tainted ‘galunggong’

The senator noted the conflicting reports on galunggong laced with formalin. She advised the public to just eat vegetables, instead of galungong.

“Better safe than sorry, e di wag na lang tayong kumain ng galunggong (So let’s not just eat round scad),” she said.

“Alangan naman sabihin ko sa inyong kumain kayo ng galunggong e hindi natin alam kung sino ang nagsasabi ng totoo di ba. E kung may mangyari isa inyo (I can’t tell you to eat galunggong because we don’t know who’s telling the truth. What if something happens to you),” the senator added. /ee