Farmer advocate slams agriculture hearing cancellation amid Senate turmoil

Farmer advocate Waya Araos-Wijangco condemned the abrupt cancellation of the scheduled hearing by the Senate Committee on Agriculture on May 12 due to the abrupt reorganization of Senate leadership yesterday, May 11.

Farmers from across the country were supposed to speak before the Senate to talk about their experiences in the field, especially with the increasing fuel prices affecting their livelihood, in hopes to address the current issues on agriculture.

“Our farmers came prepared with lived experience, practical solutions, and dignity. The Senate responded with cancellation notices and political theater,” Wijangco said.

She said that the farmer representatives traded their time during harvest and planting season just so they could be present at the said hearing, only for them to go home without fulfilling their main agenda.

In response to the issue, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform before the Senate shakeup Senator Francis Pangilinan extended his apologies for the said cancellation, citing that these were all caused by the reorganization of the Senate.

“Whether or not we are Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, we will remain a sitting Senator and will continue as such in pushing for our agriculture and fisheries advocacies centering on empowering our food producers, our farmers and fisherfolk,” Pangilinan assured.

The Senator also arranged a meeting with the said group before the continuation of the said plenary session, which the advocate noted and said to attend.

As the senate elects new leaders, there is no update on when the Committee on Agriculture will reconvene.