Agri execs irk Villar for wrong milk figures

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Cynthia Villar on Monday took to task officials of the Department of Agriculture for supposedly coming unprepared during the hearing of her committee.

At the continuation of the Senate committee on Agriculture’s hearing on the Philippine Livestock Industry Development Act, Villar berated Agriculture Assistant Secretary William Medrano and National Dairy Authority Administrator Marilyn Mabale for incorrect figures that they initially supplied at the start of the hearing with regards to the low milk production in the country.

“Kasi pag pumunta kayo dito, be sure aralin nyo kasi kagabi hindi ako natulog, nag aral ako. Kung ako nag aaral, di lalo na kayo (When you come here, be sure that you study because last night, I wasn’t able to sleep because I did my homework. If I did my homework, all the more that you should have done it as well),” Villar said.

“Dapat kasi mas matalino kayo sa akin kasi linya nyo yan. Dapat kayo ang mas nag aral kesa sa akin kasi kayo ang resource persons. Ako taga tanong lang e (You should know this  better than i do, because this is your line of expertise. You’re the one who should have studied this more because you are the resource  persons. I just ask questions),” she added.

Medrano earlier told the committee that they are already crafting a dairy road map, which aimed to achieve a 100 percent sufficiency in liquid milk or ready-to-drink milk in 10 years.

During the same period, he said the government also aimed to raise local dairy production from a dismal one-percent to six-percent.

Mabale then noted that last year, the local production of ready-to-drink milk was only 24.4-million liters, just about one-third of the required 63-million liters.

She explained that the 24.4 million liters local production is just one-percent of the 184 million liters required dairy  products.

But this earned the ire of Villar.

“Kung nakaka produce ka ng 24.4 million liters, hindi ka one percent. San  nangaling yung 1 percent?” Villar asked, pointing out that the one percent of 184 million liters should have been 1.8 million liters only and not 24.4 million liters.

(If you can produce 24.4 million liters, that’s not one percent. Where did yo get that 1 percent?)

“Nagkagulo-gulo na ang inyong figure… siguro nag doctorate kayo?” she  said.

Mabale later corrected herself, saying the total dairy production was  2.5-billion liters, and not 184-million liters.

“So yung 24 (million liters) is one-percent, so mas tama. Diba sabi ko sayo, mali ang arithmetic natin (So that’s it,  24 million liters is one-percent. That’s more accurate. I told you, your arithmetic was wrong),” Villar then said.

The senator also harped about the officials’s use of the term “ready-to-drink” milk, in an apparent bid to differentiate it from powdered milk and other dairy products.

“Bakit, yung powder ba, hindi ba ready-to-drink milk yun? (Why, isn’t powdered milk not ready-to-drink milk?) I don’t think yung powder is not ready-to-drink. Lalagyan mo lang ng tubig, ready-to-drink na rin yun,” she said.

(I don’t think the powdered variety is not ready-to-drink. You will just add water and it’s ready-to-drink also.)

EDV