On the heels of the sensational face-off between Senators Raffy Tulfo and Cynthia Villar over the indiscriminate use of arable land for commercial and industrial projects, more than 75 civic groups are now calling for Villar to step down as chairperson of two committees in the chamber over allegations of conflict of interest.

Tulfo in his interpellation last week of Villar, who is sponsoring the Department of Agriculture's budget for 2023, raised the practice of private developers of converting farmlands into residential and commercial spaces.

"Our farms are shrinking. Big developers buy farmlands and convert these into residential and commercial lands. What is the DA doing to address this?" Tulfo asked.

Among the groups which signed the petition for Villar to leave her Senate positions are the Anakpawis Partylist, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, several chapters of Agham Youth, UP Diliman University Student Council, UP Ibalon, UP Manila Pre-Law Society, UP Visayas College of Arts and Sciences Student Council and the Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines.

Villar turned defensive on Tulfo's query and retorted "You know, that's our business. I want to tell you that we don't buy agricultural lands in the provinces. Nobody will buy houses on agricultural lands."

Villar's response earned a call to give up her chairmanship in the Senate panel which is being blamed in the past years of sitting on at least three bills that would have delineated the proper use of the country's riches.

The National Land Use Act, a priority of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is one of these bills stalled in Villar's panel. It seeks to establish clear rules on land exploitation that will, in effect, limit the capability of developers to convert land for housing and commercial projects.

The two other proposed laws held up in Villar's committee are the Sustainable Forest Management Act and the Alternative Minerals Management Act.

Both measures seek to fill the legal gaps in addressing environmental problems such as deforestation and various forms of land use conversion.

A so-called unity statement initiated by the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates-Youth urged Villar to resign as the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food and Agrarian Reform and the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change.

"Given her track record as a self-serving politician who blatantly uses state power and resources to forward her business interests, we demand Senator Villar resign from her chairmanship of Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food and Agrarian Reform, and Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change," according to the petition.

Self-serving actions

The signatory organizations assailed Villar's self-serving statements and actions, "over the decades," which they said have been seriously detrimental to millions of poor Filipino farmers and agriculture stakeholders.

"We denounce Villar's pronouncement that defends the conversion of agricultural lands into unproductive subdivisions, a practice that the real estate mogul Villar clan has been engaged in unabashed since their rise to the bureaucracy. Agricultural lands should be distributed to and owned by hardworking farmers whose blood and sweat ensure that we have food on our tables," according to the manifesto.

The statement added that Villar should also be held accountable for the liberalization of rice importation that resulted in the sharp plunge of palay prices and what the group claims as P206 billion losses for farmers.

"As the principal author and proponent of the Rice Liberalization Law (RA 11203), Senator Villar removed restrictions on rice importation and clipped most of the powers of the National Food Authority to procure local rice and regulate prices by selling affordable locally-produced rice in the market," the multisectoral petition added.

The groups questioned Villar's capacity to serve the interest of Filipino farmers, who comprise much of the population, "as this contradicts her family's business interests."

"As a land-owning elite who converts lands for a living, the class interest of Senator Villar can never be reconciled with the interest of ordinary farmers to own the land they have been tilling for decades," continued the statement.